Doubt clouds plan for new train fleet

Nov 26 2009 by William Green, The Journal

THE prospect of a new train assembly plant employing hundreds of workers coming to the region is hanging in the balance, The Journal can reveal.

The Government announced in February that a £7.5bn fleet of new “super express” trains would be built to run on the East Coast Main Line from 2013.

British-led consortium Agility Trains was chosen as the preferred bidder to build the fleet and it identified Gateshead as a “very strong candidate” as the location for the assembly plant for the new trains employing up to 500 workers.

Sites in Leicestershire and Sheffield are also on the shortlist of the consortium made up of Japanese train builder Hitachi and UK firms John Laing and Barclays.

But no contracts have been signed between Agility Trains and the Department for Transport.

Agility Trains says it expects contacts to be signed early next year and to make an announcement on the location of the train plant at the same time.

But that could be perilously close to the General Election, increasingly expected next May, which could throw existing plans up in the air.

Last month, Shadow transport minister Stephen Hammond said an incoming Conservative administration would evaluate every single transport project in the country to see if they offer “value for money”.