Business and civic leaders step up efforts to save Derby Alstom plant

Nearly two centuries of train manufacturing in Derby could come to an end in a matter of weeks.

A lack of orders for new fleets from the UK rail sector is being blamed, with leaders at the local council as well as heads of businesses warning of ‘terrible consequences' if the Government does not step in to save train manufacturing in the city.  The industry has been based in Derby for almost 180 years, with the leader of the City Council saying that the Alstom plant is a strategically crucial part of the UK's rail capabilities and that Government needs to recognise this.

Production lines at Alstom's Litchurch Lane site will grind to a halt imminently.

Both the company and unions have spent months in talks with the Department of Transport in a bid to bring forward contracts.  So far, the talks have proved unsuccessful, thus endangering hundreds of jobs at the plant itself, along with thousands of others in the UK supply chain. Since possible job cuts were announced in September, leaders of Derby City Council have worked closely with Alstom, the Unite union and senior Government officials in an effort to find a resolution to the problem.

Transport for London is keen for Alstom to build additional trains for the Elizabeth Line while rail sector experts believe there is desperately needed refurbishment work for current rail fleets in passenger service that could be commissioned into Derby.

City leaders along with representatives of the local business community will be joining a lobby of Parliament on Wednesday 6 December to demand Government action.  The lobby will take place on the same day as the select committee on rail rolling stock meets.

Baggy Shanker, Leader of Derby City Council, said: “There will be dreadful consequences for the city, the East Midlands and the country as a whole, if train production in Derby is lost. The hundreds of jobs that will disappear at Alstom will be mirrored by thousands more in the supply chain and when the nation does want to order new trains in the future, it will struggle to find anyone in the UK to build them.

“This is simply unthinkable for a country which gave railways to the world and the Government has to find the political will to resolve this crisis. It is deeply ironic that only months after Westminster recognised the importance of the rail sector in Derby by making it the headquarters of newly formed Great British Railways, that we should now have to fight to save a vital part of the industry.”

John Forkin, Managing Director of Marketing Derby, added: “The threat to the future of train building is a clear and present danger and the civic, business and wider community will not stand by and watch it happen. A solution is in the hands of Government and we expect that our collective voice will be heard in Parliament next week.

“We are a world leader in rolling stock manufacturing and, as a city and country, we should be investing in that skills and talent pool to help grow the economy.”

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