LONDON -- Japan's Hitachi and French partner Alstom won a 1.97 billion pound ($2.6 billion) contract to deliver trains for a British rail line that will be the fastest in Europe, the companies said Thursday.
The joint venture Hitachi-Alstom High Speed will design, build and maintain 54 trains for 12 years on the High Speed Two line, which will run through the heart of the U.K. The top operational speed will be 360 kph, faster than some Japanese shinkansen bullet train services.
