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Hitachi has submitted a bid to supply trains to Britain’s railways. The group hopes to build trains for, among others, the Strategic Rail Authority and Merseyrail. As part of the deal the company, which has been instrumental in the development of Japanese railway technology, also hopes to supply a new train, which is currently awaiting safety approval.

IT supply bids possible_2

A review of senior MPs’ salaries, including office supplies, could open up bids for up to £2 million of computer software. MPs currently purchase their own IT equipment with funds from the House of Commons’ office costs department, but the review recommends that the supply of equipment should be centralised.

Heavy cuts in IT outlay_2

Spending on consulting and systems integration is facing heavier cutbacks than any area of IT spending, according to a survey by financial services company Morgan Stanley Dean Witter.

Power surplus predicted_2

The National Grid has predicted a potential electricity surplus of more than 45 per cent in England and Wales by 2008. Generation capacity is expected to increase by 18.8 per cent to 86.5 gigawatts in this time, with the largest increase in northern England.

Inside Chinese Business_2

Ming-Jer Chen Harvard Business School Press, £21.99 Rating: 5/5

University of Greenwich_2

New system for Barclays_2

Barclays Bank is implementing a new e-procurement system to bring all of its £500 million spending online by the middle of next year. The system will be accessible to 30,000 staff in 2,500 locations.

J2C to close operations_2

Struggling business-to-business Internet services group J2C is to close all but one of its operations after it failed to find a buyer. The only operation that J2C, formerly known as Just2Clicks, will now run is BestValueZone, which provides e-procurement services to the public sector. www.just2clicks.com

Supply Chain Management_2

Edited by John Mentzer Sage, £51 Rating: 3/5

Microsoft keeps talking_2

Microsoft has promised to continue its dialogue with customers after lobby group the Infrastructure Forum complained to the Office of Fair Trading that the company’s new system of licences for desktop software will increase annual licence fees by 94 per cent. www.microsoft.co.uk