Each five-car train will seat 327 passengers, 61 more than the Alstom class 180 DMUs currently used on these services.

The 225km/h trains will be assembled at Hitachi’s Newton Aycliffe plant in northeast England and are due to enter service in 2019. The fleet will be maintained by Hitachi at Bounds Green depot in London.

The trains will operate under 25kV 50Hz ac electrification on the East Coast Main Line between London and Doncaster, where they will switch to diesel mode for the remainder of the journey to Hull and Beverley.