Cleaner, greener and faster rail travel is being promised after the government announced a multi-billion pound order for a fleet of inter-city trains.

Agility Trains – a British-led consortium comprising of John Laing, Hitachi and Barclays – has won the £7.5 billion contract to build and maintain the new Super Express trains for the East Coast and Great Western mainlines.

The 125mph trains will reduce overcrowding with longer carriages increasing capacity by 21% and will allow train operators to run more frequent services, explained the Department for Transport (DfT).

However, a typical journey between London and Leeds or London and Bristol will only be reduced by around 10 minutes.

The first of the new trains, which will be powered by electric, diesel or a combination of the two, is expected to enter service on the East Coast mainline in 2013 and be fully operational by 2015.

“The fleet will provide long distance operators with the trains they need to meet the needs of a growing market and passengers with a cost effective travel choice,” said Alec McTavish, director of policy and operations at the Association of Train Operating Companies.

Meanwhile, during his twice-yearly grilling by the chairmen of all the Commons committees the prime minister has suggested next year’s fare rises could be less severe, as they will be linked to July’s retail price inflation figures.