Nov 13 (Reuters) – The Japanese government is considering financial support for Hitachi Ltd. 6501.T bid to win a UK high-speed rail project order, the Nikkei reported.

The Japanese government would provide a loan through the Japan Bank for International Cooperation to a railcar leasing company that Hitachi plans to set up with a leading British general contractor, the daily said.

It will likely be a syndicated loan involving Japanese private sector financial institutions, according to the newspaper.

Hitachi has already won priority rights to negotiate on the railcar upgrade and maintenance project, but the UK government has delayed a formal decision, citing budgetary difficulties, the Nikkei said.

The UK government is expected to decide this month whether to go ahead with the project as planned, the business daily said.

Hitachi’s rivals like the Canadian firm Bombardier Inc BBDb.TO are looking to get back in the running by asking for another round of betting, the newspaper said.

The project is to replace cars on Britain’s existing high-speed rail network, built more than three decades ago, and handle maintenance work on new ones, the daily said.

A maximum of 1,400 railcars will be delivered from 2013 to the end of 2018, in a project valued at 7.5 billion pounds, or about 1 trillion yen, the Nikkei said. (Reporting by Shravya Jain in Bangalore; Editing by Roshni Menon)