On June 14, 2013, the BRITAIN's Department for Transport has reached financial close with the Siemens/Cross London Trains consortium on a £1.6bn contract to finance, supply and maintain the train fleet for London's Thameslink commuter network.

In addition, Siemens will be responsible for the long-term maintenance of the fleet and overseeing construction of two new train maintenance depots.

Cross London trains is a consortium comprising Siemens Project Ventures GmbH, Innisfree Limited and 3i Infrastructure plc and will be responsible for financing the deal.

Thameslink north-south commuter route runs through London, connecting Bedford, located to the north east of the capital, with Brighton, on the south coast. Introducing a high capacity, high frequency service of longer trains, extended platforms and new stations, the project is regarded as one of the largest rail infrastructure projects in the UK. The consortium was named preferred bidder in June 2011, two years after the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contract was originally due to be signed, and the process has suffered delays ever since.

The Department for Transport still expects the consortium to deliver the first trains by December 2015, just two-and-a-half years after the contract award date.

For the Thameslink project Siemens invested almost 50 million euros in the development of a new train platform.

The trains will be manufactured at the Siemens factory in Krefeld, Germany, and the first trains will enter service in 2016.

Update 1: 

HSH Nordbank AG is participating as Lead Arranger in the financing of the Thameslink Rolling Stock Project. The total project financing for the availability-driven PPP project is about GBP 1.6 billion and has a 22.5 year maturity. HSH Nordbank committed approx. 7.5 percent of the commercial term loan financing.

Source: Siemens Press