The [British] Government was criticised today for awarding one of Britain's biggest contracts for new trains to a Japanese company.
Unions and Labour backbenchers were angered by the decision to award the 7.5 billion [pound] contract to replace the ageing but iconic Intercity 125s on two of the country's busiest rail routes to Agility Trains, a consortium whose key member is Hitachi, the Japanese manufacturer of bullet trains.
Among the unions concerns were that the British public were not used to trains that might actually run on time, and many commuters plan their trips based on the assumption that the trains will be running late. If the trains suddenly start arriving and departing when timetabled, many people (used to the current system) will miss their train, making them even later to work than their employers are currently used to.
Mr Hoon [the Transport Secretary] claimed initially that the massive contract — the largest order since British Rail was privatised — would create or safeguard 12,500 jobs in Britain, but under questioning in the House of Commons this afternoon this figure appeared to unravel.
Earlier, Hitachi revealed that most of the high-value design and development work on the Super Express will take place at Hitachi works in Japan, while most of the manufacture work in Britain would be in final assembly of the trains, creating 500 mainly blue-collar jobs. . .
Mr Densha Otaku for Hitachi explained that 500 was at the upper limit of Hitachi's estimate of the number of people in Britian who might be able to follow the instructions as to how to assemble the trains, with that number dropping on any given day to 200 after lunch. . .
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that too often delay my joyride home on the vomit express last thing at night I'd have very little to complain about here.