Work has begun on a £430 million order that has saved Britain’s last train factory, as the UK celebrates 200 years since the world’s first passenger railway opened from Stockton-on-Tees to Darlington.
Ten trains are being built at Alstom’s works in Derby to cater for demand for the 70 already operating on the Elizabeth Line, run by Transport for London. The site dates back to 1876 and has seen several owners since privatisation in 1989, with French firm Alstom taking over in 2021.
It is the last factory in Britain able to make trains from start to finish. Other manufacturers, such as Hitachi’s plant at Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, assemble trains from components largely made abroad.
A recent exhibition at the Derby site included Locomotion No. 1, which hauled the historic first passenger journey in 1825. Andy Butters, managing director of the factory, said:
“It’s poetic that one of the world’s earliest locomotives has left for us to welcome the manufacturing of the country’s newest electric train.”
Since 2022, more than 600 million journeys have been made on the Elizabeth Line, making it the UK’s single busiest railway service.
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