Hitachi has begun work on the Azuma fleet at their depot in Newton Aycliffe.

Work on the bodyshells is taking place in Kasado, Japan, before arriving in the UK to be built by Hitachi’s manufacturing team in the North East.

The fleet of 65 trains will provide an extra 12,200 seats, making possible a big increase in direct services to destinations such as Bradford, Harrogate and Lincoln and cutting journey times across the East Coast.