Alstom Transport announced on May 6 that it had received from DfT the long-deferred Notification to Proceed with the manufacture of 106 Pendolino vehicles. Valued at ￡255m, the manufacturing contract is linked to a 10-year extension to Alstom's current maintenance contract for the Pendolino fleet. Through its subsidiary West Coast Traincare, Alstom has maintained the Class 390 fleet for Virgin Trains since 2003. The new maintenance contract, due to be finalised in August, will be worth ￡1.25bn and will run for 10 years from April 1 2012 when the current contract with Virgin Trains is due to expire. As expected, the rolling stock contract covers four new 11-car Class 390 sets plus 62 new cars which will be used to extend 31 of the existing nine-car Pendolinos to 11-car formations. Alstom says that the new trains 'will be put into service in 2011 and 2012', although this will depend on Virgin Trains accepting them.
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