More than 900 jobs on track as brand new train factory planned
25 July 2012
More than 900 jobs could be created and thousands more secured after transport secretary Justine Greening approved a £4.5bn contract to supply Britain with the next generation of intercity trains.
Wed, 25 Jul 2012
More than 900 jobs could be created and thousands more secured after transport secretary Justine Greening approved a £4.5bn contract to supply Britain with the next generation of intercity trains.
In a major boost to the UK’s manufacturing industry, 596 railway carriages will be built at a brand new train factory in the North East of England.
Agility Trains, a consortium made up of Hitachi and John Laing, has been awarded the contract to build and maintain the trains under the Intercity Express Programme (IEP), the project to replace Britain’s Intercity 125 trains with new, higher capacity modern trains.
Hitachi will assemble an Intercity fleet of 92 complete trains at a new purpose-built factory in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, in the process creating 730 skilled jobs with a further 200 jobs during construction of the factory itself and securing thousands more in the UK supply chain. The company will also locate its European rail research and development capabilities on the site.
Hitachi will also construct maintenance depots in Bristol, Swansea, West London and Doncaster, and will upgrade existing maintenance depots throughout Britain.
Transport secretary Justine Greening says: “A new train factory is fantastic news for Britain and will be welcomed by everyone who wants to see a thriving UK manufacturing sector.”
More than 900 jobs could be created and thousands more secured after transport secretary Justine Greening approved a £4.5bn contract to supply Britain with the next generation of intercity trains.
In a major boost to the UK’s manufacturing industry, 596 railway carriages will be built at a brand new train factory in the North East of England.
Agility Trains, a consortium made up of Hitachi and John Laing, has been awarded the contract to build and maintain the trains under the Intercity Express Programme (IEP), the project to replace Britain’s Intercity 125 trains with new, higher capacity modern trains.
Hitachi will assemble an Intercity fleet of 92 complete trains at a new purpose-built factory in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, in the process creating 730 skilled jobs with a further 200 jobs during construction of the factory itself and securing thousands more in the UK supply chain. The company will also locate its European rail research and development capabilities on the site.
Hitachi will also construct maintenance depots in Bristol, Swansea, West London and Doncaster, and will upgrade existing maintenance depots throughout Britain.
Transport secretary Justine Greening says: “A new train factory is fantastic news for Britain and will be welcomed by everyone who wants to see a thriving UK manufacturing sector.”
