Derby closure looms: alstom begins redundancy talks

4 min read

Network News

Mel Holley

Contributing Writer rail@bauermedia.co.uk

THE end of train manufacturing in the UK is edging closer, with a redundancy consultation for 1,300 manufacturing staff under way after Alstom confirmed it is shutting production lines at Derby Litchurch Lane, after 148 years.

There are a further 500 design engineers at Derby (none of Alstom’s competitors design trains in the UK). If Derby’s production lines stop for an extended period, this function is under threat of moving overseas. It would leave the UK as the only G7 nation unable to design and build trains.

The last train (720141) from the current order book of 2,500 Aventra electric multiple units left the factory on March 21.

The news is not unexpected. In May 2023, Alstom raised the problem of an upcoming 27-month production gap between the end of current orders in early 2024 and the start of HS2 rolling stock in mid-2026. This contract is an Alstom-Hitachi joint venture.

Since then, ten months of talks have taken place with Transport Secretary Mark Harper over more orders, using short-term follow-on options under existing contracts.

While some progress has been made, including funding for five additional Elizabeth line trains for Transport for London, it is not enough to continue manufacturing. Harper has now asked Alstom for a further four months of discussions.

Alstom has reconfirmed its commitment to the plant. UK & Ireland, Managing Director Nick Crossfield said the company will base its new Adessia commuter train in Derby for design and build, if agreement can be reached on a package of work to fill the production gap.

Otherwise, Alstom has remained tight-lipped, limiting itself to a short statement: “We have worked constructively with the Government on securing a sustainable future for Derby Litchurch Lane, but after ten months of discussions we have run out of time and the production lines have stopped.

Alstom’s plant in Derby faces mothballing following the completion of its final train, 720141, which left on March 21. Back in 2017, the plant was busy building Class 345 EMUs for Crossrail (now the Elizabeth line).

Derby Litchurch Lane: 1876-2024

The Midland Railway’s expansion and growth, with a policy to manufacture in-house rather than using contractors, saw Derby Works bursting at the seams.

An 1873 reorganisation resulted in a new Carriage & Wagon Works built at Litchurch Lane in 1876, south of the existing factory, which became solely a Locomotive Works.

The first carriages were assembled from kits sent from Detroit (America) by the Pullman Car Company, before the MR started building its own designs. Adopting US mass-production methods, from 1919 output was 200 wagons and ten coaches every week. The plant’s sawmill was, at the time, the largest in Europe.

At its creati

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Rail Magazine

17 April 2024

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