The famous Japanese bullet trains are to run in Britain within the next five years, transporting passengers at up to 140mph between a new terminal at London St Pancras and Kent.

The Transport Secretary announced today that he had chosen Hitachi, the maker of the bullet trains, to provide the rolling stock for a new South-East England passenger service.

The new service will be able to attain very high speeds as it will run, largely, on the new Channel Tunnel rail line now under construction. It will be a blessing to Kent commuters, cutting the journey time between Ashford and London by 40 minutes.

Today's announcement will also provide a major boost to London's 2012 Olympic bid, which has to be handed in within three weeks.

If London wins the right to host the Olympics in 2012, the bullet trains will act as a "javelin shuttle", taking less than eight minutes to whisk passengers from St Pancras in Central London to the Olympic stadium in Stratford, East London. Stratford International will be the first stop on the new Channel Tunnel line.

Touring the terminal building under construction at St Pancras this morning, Alastair Darling announced: "We’re today confirming the new high speed domestic service, which will make use of the new Channel Tunnel rail link.

"This service will also be the flagship transport scheme to deliver people to and from the Olympic Games, should the UK bid be successful.

"The technology on these trains is cutting edge, which could help reduce journey times between Ashford and central London by 40 minutes each way."

The high speed Channel Tunnel rail line and the St Pancras terminal are due to open in 2007.

Thirty bullet trains with six carriages each will come into service in 2009, operating the six routes which will make up the new Kent passenger service. Each will have comfortable seats, passenger information services, CCTV and facilities for the disabled.

They will share the high-speed track with the Eurostar trains which operate international services to the Continent.

The rail company that will run the bullet trains has yet to be chosen. The contract will be put out to tender within weeks.

David Quarmby, the chairman of the Strategic Rail Authority, said that the bullet trains would offer passengers an unusual degree of comfort.

"Today’s confirmation brings a new rolling stock supplier to the UK market, and passengers can expect a high level of reliability, comfort and speed from these trains," he said.

"The process for awarding the new integrated Kent franchise to operate train services from next year will continue, with bidding documents to be issued later this autumn."

Alistair Dormer, business development director at Hitachi Europe Ltd, said that the company was delighted to be supplying the new trains.

Eurostar trains will remain the fastest in the UK, running at a top speed of 186mph, but the bullet trains will be the second fastest, beating the 125mph Pendolino "tilting trains" on the West Coast main line.

Journey times between London and Ebbsfleet, in the Thames Gateway area where 120,000 new homes are planned by 2016, will be just 15 minutes.

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