U.S., Aug. 1 -- Hitachi Rail has been awarded a 400mn pounds (US$487.7mn) contract by public transport company Abellio.

Abellio was recently awarded the East Midlands Railway franchise by the UK government, which runs for eight years. The contract will see Hitachi build and deliver 165 intercity carriages to replace existing fleets. Describing the trains as state of the art, Abellio highlighted features such as air conditioning, free wifi and lower emissions.

Dominic Booth, Abellio (UK) Managing Director said: "These new trains form the centrepiece of our ambitious plans for a complete replacement of all the trains on the East Midlands Railway and are a more than 600 million pounds investment to really improve the region's railway. They...