Following the improbably high average capital rental costs for IEP trainsets quoted by Transport Minister Theresa Villiers (RB1392 p5), further costs have been released. The latest written answer given by Villiers in the House of Commons on June 20 addressed maintenance, fuel and track access costs per mile, with the assumed average costs shown in the table (right). Villiers said the figures were used in the reappraisal of the project following publication of the Foster report. Costs refer to five-car 'short' IEP sets at 2009-10 prices. Maintenance costs are complicated by the fact that all the electric lEPs have an underfloor diesel generator set on one vehicle. At 35.6p per vehicle-mile, the figure for the IEP is about 5°/o lower than equivalent EMUs currently in service. The additional maintenance cost for the generator set, which is expected to be used nightly to power depot moves, suggests that the figure may be slightly optimistic.
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