A TRAIN builder has moved closer to starting £82m North-East plans.

Hitachi Rail Europe says a Class 800 model, which is being delivered to the UK, is now in Port Lazaro Cardenas, Mexico, ahead of moving on to Panama.

The rolling stock, made for the Government’s Intercity Express Programme (IEP), left Japan in January and is expected to hit British shores in March.

Its arrival will come just months before Hitachi opens its 730-job factory in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, and running tests and onboard staff training are due to start in April.

Bosses say those will be carried out on the UK rail network for Agility Trains, a consortium of Hitachi Rail Europe and John Laing.

Hitachi’s Aycliffe site will make Class 800 and 801 IEP trains for Great Western Main Line services, running via Bristol to south Wales, from 2017, and East Coast Main Line trains the following year.

Its plant, due to open its doors at the end of this year, is also expected to produce 100mph next generation commuter trains for Scotland after operator Abellio named Hitachi its preferred bidder for 70 engines and 234 carriages.

The first trains Hitachi will build in the region will be 122 Class 800 models, destined for the Great Western and East Coast Main Lines.

Of the 122 trains, twelve are being made at its factory in Kasado, Japan, with the remaining 110 due to be manufactured at Aycliffe.