Relief in Derby as new train order heads for Alstom
Derby City Council has revealed a letter from transport secretary Mark Harper which offers new hope for the Alstom works at Litchurch Lane, where ten trains for the Elizabeth Line are now set to be built, after a proposed order for five had been doubled to ten and ‘approved in principle’. It is hoped that the order for about 90 cars, worth at least £200 million, will secure jobs at the site until Derby starts building Alstom’s new Adessia commuter trains, possibly for export as well as domestic operators.
LNER drivers set to strike, while RMT rejects pay offerDrivers belonging to ASLEF are set to strike for 24 hours tomorrow, reducing East Coast intercity services by an estimated 75 per cent. No LNER trains will be running north of Edinburgh. The union is also staging a ban on overtime and rest day working from today until Sunday. The walkout is unconnected with ASLEF’s pay dispute with English operators, and has been caused by what the union described as the ‘company’s persistent failure to comply with existing agreements’. Meanwhile, the RMT has rejected a pay offer for its Network Rail members.
Attention turns to Hitachi in train-building rescue plansThe future of the Alstom plant at Litchurch Lane in Derby is looking more secure, after ‘intensive discussions’ between Alstom Group and the government, but there is still serious concern over the future of the Hitachi plant at Newton Aycliffe in County Durham, which was built a decade ago to supply the new Intercity Express fleets.
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