TRANS Pennine Express rail passengers are to benefit from £250m worth of new trains.

Transport companies First Group and Keolis, which are set to take over the franchise in the New Year, said yesterday that the new rolling stock should cut journey times in some cases by up to ten minutes.

A deal has been struck with engineering giant Siemens for 56 100mph Desiro trains, each with 198 seats, which should be in service by early 2006.

The trains, being built near Dusseldorf in Germany, will be equipped with engines built by Darlington Cummins' sister plant in Daventry, and maintained at new depots in Manchester and York where 100 jobs are being created.

Passenger groups were taken aback by the news having feared there would be little new investment in the route especially as the Strategic Rail Authority is said to be re-evaluating the spiralling cost of a number of rail franchises.

Ernie Preston, secretary of the North-East passengers committee, said: "This is brilliant news for passengers. It would seem that they have found some way to fund new rolling stock and our message would be 'bring them on now'.

"These trains should reduce journey times and provide a better quality service between the major population centres in the North of England." First and Keolis beat rival Connex to the Trans Pennine franchise currently being run by Arriva.

It serves a number of towns and cities including Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle upon Tyne, Leeds, York, Middlesbrough, Thirsk, Northallerton, Darlington and Durham.

The new trains will mean for instance that a journey between Manchester Picadilly and Newcastle Central which currently takes 2 hours 47 minutes will now take 2hrs 37minutes.

They are specially designed for service in the hilly Pennines with extra acceleration to boost performance.

Other benefits will include air conditioning, advanced passenger information systems and CCTV.

''We want to hit the ground running and are making this announcement just days after we were selected as preferred bidders to run the franchise,'' said FirstGroup chief executive Moir Lockhead.

Keolis director Jean-Pierre Deghaye said: ''Passengers will notice a big advance in comfort and reliability when the new trains enter service, and this is a key part of our commitment to improve quality and attract more people to rail.''