The first of a new generation of trains for the South, based on the famous Japanese bullet train, has just been unveiled at Kasado in Japan.

Costing £5.7 billion they are the most significant new train order for decades. Built by Hitachi the new Intercity Express trains will replace carriages dating back forty years on First Great Western and East Coast.

866 carriages will be built with up for forty per cent more seats to ease overcrowding on the busiest routes in the country including Reading, Newbury, Didcot, Swindon and Oxford to Paddington.

The trains will enter service from 2017 and the project is funded by the Government. Hitachi will build and maintain the carriages at a number of depots as part of the deal.

The first three trains are being built in Japan and will be shipped to the UK for testing next year. Production will then move to the UK where more than 700 jobs will be created.