A last-minute deal to build new trains for the Elizabeth Line in London has saved the UK’s largest rail factory from closure.
Alstom’s Derby plant, which employs 3,000 people, finished its last order in March but it will now build ten new trains after conversations between ministers and the French company’s boss, Henri Poupart-Lafarge.
Work on the new order will keep the factory busy ahead of the start of a contract for express trains for the HS2 line that starts in mid-2026, said sources for the government.
In April, Alstom started redundancy talks with 1,200 blue-collar staff and Poupart-Lafarge travelled to London yesterday to underline the urgency of the situation.
Following those talks, the government agreed to pay for an extra five trains for the Elizabeth Line on top of five to be funded by the Treasury.
The order now comprises 90 carriages.