Hitachi Rail Europe has todaywon another major trains contract for its flagship Newton Aycliffe factory.
The company has signed a deal with Abellio to make and maintain 63 trains for the upcoming Scotrail franchise.
It’s the second contract for the £82m factory, which is currently being built after Hitachi won work to replace the UK’s fleet of Intercity trains.
Construction is well underway and the facility, which is due to open later this year, will create 730 jobs at full capacity.
The first seven Scotrail trains are scheduled to be built in Hitachi’s Kasado factory in Japan, with the remaining 63 manufactured at Newton Aycliffe.
Hitachi will start making the Goverment’s IEP (Intercity Express Programme trains, for the Great Western and East Coast lines, from spring 2016.
Hitachi’s Daniela Karthaus said: “This is really great news for us; although it won’t mean more jobs, our factory will be busier for longer. We will have two separate production lines.
“The factory build is going very well. We are having a strong recruitment drive and by the end of the year the team will be at 200. Next year, we will recruit another 400.
“The first trains we build will be the IEP, and we’ll begin building the new trains soon after.
“We are also pursuing other contracts, which we hope to be able to announce soon.”
Earlier this year, Hitachi Rail Europe also announced it was establishing its UK design office in the new facility as a “sign of its commitment” to the region.
Daniela added: “We are creating jobs across the whole spectrum, from shop floor workers to team leaders and design engineers.”
Jon Veitch, Hitachi Rail Europe’s General Manager for Scotland, said: “We are delighted to be signing this contract with Abellio today. This forms the start of a long-term partnership to boost passenger services in Scotland, and we will be working closely with the operator to ensure that services are kept to a very high standard across this period.
“This is also the first contract for our recently launched AT200 commuter train. With the majority of manufacturing taking place in our Newton Aycliffe factory, this is another sign of our confidence in UK manufacturing and, in line with the delivery of our Class 800 IEP trains, will boost jobs and growth in Scotland and the North-east of England.”
Hitachi built the Shinkansen (bullet train) for the Japanese and international markets.
In Europe, Hitachi Rail Europe’s first rolling stock contract was to deliver a fleet of 29 Class 395 trains, the first domestic high-speed train in the UK, which are maintained at Hitachi’s state-of-the-art depot in Ashford, Kent.
No comments:
Post a Comment