French train firm unveils plans for £20m plant in north-west England

[stander]

Alstom’s new site in Widnes, Cheshire, will create about 600 jobs, and the firm aims to win contract to manufacture trains for HS2.

The French train company Alstom is to build a new multimillion-pound plant in the north-west of England, delivering a major boost to the region during a time of uncertainty about Britain’s exit from the European Union.

Alstom will spend an initial £20m on a new site at Widnes, Cheshire, creating about 600 jobs. The facility will modernise the Pendolino trains on the west coast mainline and contain a training academy, but it could eventually manufacture new rolling stock if Alstom wins a contract to produce trains for London Underground or HS2.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/oct/07/french-train-firm-unveils-plans-for-20m-plant-in-north-west-england?CMP=share_btn_tw

[Fithman]

You can be assured that any plans Alstom may have will be put on hold until the "Brexit" mess is sorted !

[elliss]

6 hours ago, Fithman said:

You can be assured that any plans Alstom may have will be put on hold until the "Brexit" mess is sorted !

 

 Correct ,  seeing is  believing ,   time will tell .

          Mess ,  is   for  a  looong time .

[HauptmannUK]

If Alstom do indeed win the HS2 contract then it would make a great deal of sense to manufacture in the UK (assuming hard Brexit). That would a 'Brexit benefit' - weak exchange rate and import tarifs making domestic manufactured products cheaper - import substitution.  The devil is in the detail though and you'd need to know the percentage of imported parts in the train sets. Unfortunately the plant is unlikely to manufacture for export.

[nong38]

They will have 2 main competitors Siemans and Hitachi, Hitachi already produce trains for the St Pancras-south east Kent services and will have their main world railway manufacturing site in the UK. Siemans have been supplying the new trains for Eurostar and have a considerable presence in the UK, so a new site for Alstom is welcome but really just putting on a more equal footing with the competition.