Hitachi opts for MTU PowerPacks supplied by Rolls-Royce for UK’s TransPennine Express

Global
- China
- Japan
- Germany
- North America
- South East Asia
- United Kingdom
- India
- Korea
- Hungary
- Arabic
- Brazil
- Global contacts

We develop and deliver complex power and propulsion solutions for safety-critical applications in the air, at sea and on land.

Our products and service packages enable our customers to connect people, societies, cultures and economies together.

Products & Services

We develop and deliver complex power and propulsion solutions.

For more than 100 years we have been at the forefront of innovation. Helping to power, protect and connect the modern world.

About

Create your future with us

Help us deliver better power for our changing world.

Doing more with less

We have a fundamental role in meeting the environmental and societal opportunities and challenges that the world faces.

Sustainability

Rolls-Royce Half Year results

Rolls-Royce announced Half Year results on Thursday 1 August 2024.

View Press release

News centre

Updates and news from around the Rolls-Royce businesses.

Home

Media

Press releases

Hitachi opts for MTU PowerPacks supplied by Rolls-Royce for UK’s TransPennine Express

Back

Wednesday 20 December 2017 10:59 AM

Hitachi opts for MTU PowerPacks supplied by Rolls-Royce for UK’s TransPennine Express

57 MTU PowerPacks for intercity trains connecting major cities in north of England and Scotland
Most powerful rail engines of Series 1600 ideal for lines with steep gradients
New trains to enter passenger service on FirstGroup’s TransPennine Express from 2019

FRIEDRICHSHAFEN, GERMANY – Rolls-Royce is once again to deliver MTU rail drive systems to Hitachi Rail Europe: a total of 57 MTU Series 1600 PowerPacks will be used to power 19 new Class 802 intercity trains. The trains are scheduled to enter service from 2019 along the iconic Pennine route in the north of England, as well as in Scotland. The trains will be operated by TransPennine Express and financed by Angel Trains.

Berry Sas, Projects Director at Hitachi Rail Europe, said: “Our intercity trains will offer passengers on the TransPennine Express route a smoother and more comfortable journey. MTU continues to offer us modern and efficient PowerPacks to help deliver a step change in passenger experience.”

Jürgen Blassmann, Head of Rail Business at MTU, said: “It is a great sign of confidence that Hitachi Rail Europe, following the Intercity Express Programme and the trains to be used in the West of England, has now once again opted for the reliability of rail drives from MTU. The new trains and our PowerPacks are an excellent combination with added value for train operators and travellers alike.”

The MTU PowerPacks are tailor-made for the special challenges of the routes, which travel in part across the Pennines: their core is MTU’s most powerful rail engine of Series 1600. The 12-cylinder diesel engine, delivers 700 kW of power and enables the trains to achieve speeds of up to 200 km/h, also on sections of route with steep gradients. Engines of this type feature a high power density, low consumption and low emissions: with an integrated SCR system, they meet the stringent requirements of EU Stage IIIB emission standards. This means that particulate matter emissions are reduced by more than 90% and NOx (nitrogen oxide) emissions have been approximately cut in half compared to diesel engines currently in service. Furthermore, modern MTU electronics for system monitoring regulate and control all PowerPack components to ensure efficient and reliable operation.

The trains will be bi-mode vehicles, which means they are capable of operating both in purely electric mode, taking their power from the overhead lines, and in diesel electric mode on non-electrified lines. They will be able to switch seamlessly between power sources whilst travelling. In the event of an overhead power failure, the MTU PowerPacks ensure that the trains can continue running with no reduction in speed. The trains will run from Manchester and Liverpool to major cities such as Leeds, York, Newcastle and Edinburgh.

The Class 802 intercity trains for the TransPennine Express are similar to those of the Class 800 and 801, which are currently being built by Hitachi for the UK’s Intercity Express Programme (IEP) and are also fitted with MTU Series 1600 PowerPacks.

Press photos are available for download from www.mtu-solutions.com.

About Rolls-Royce Holdings plc

Rolls-Royce’s vision is to be the market-leader in high performance power systems where our engineering expertise, global reach and deep industry knowledge deliver outstanding customer relationships and solutions. We operate across five businesses: Civil Aerospace, Defence Aerospace, Marine, Nuclear and Power Systems.
Rolls-Royce Power Systems is headquartered in Friedrichshafen in southern Germany and employs around 10,000 people. The product portfolio includes MTU-brand high-speed engines and propulsion systems for ships, power generation, heavy land, rail and defence vehicles and for the oil and gas industry. Under the MTU Onsite Energy brand, the company markets diesel gensets for emergency, base load and peak load applications as well as cogeneration plants using gas engines for the combined generation of heat and power. Bergen medium-speed engines power ships and power generation applications. L’Orange completes the portfolio with fuel injection systems for large engines.
Rolls-Royce has customers in more than 150 countries, comprising more than 400 airlines and leasing customers, 160 armed forces, 4,000 marine customers including 70 navies, and more than 5,000 power and nuclear customers.
We have three common themes across all our businesses:

Investing in and developing engineering excellence
Driving a manufacturing and supply chain transformation which will embed operational excellence in lean, lower-cost facilities and processes
Leveraging our installed base, product knowledge and engineering capabilities to provide customers with outstanding service through which we can capture aftermarket value long into the future.

Annual underlying revenue was £13.8 billion in 2016, around half of which came from the provision of aftermarket services. The firm and announced order book stood at £80 billion at the end of 2016.
In 2016, Rolls-Royce invested £1.3 billion on research and development. We also support a global network of 31 University Technology Centres, which position Rolls-Royce engineers at the forefront of scientific research.
Rolls-Royce employs almost 50,000 people in 50 countries. More than 16,500 of these are engineers.
The Group has a strong commitment to apprentice and graduate recruitment and to further developing employee skills. In 2016 we recruited 274 graduates and 327 apprentices through our worldwide training programmes.