The UK’s biggest train factory has been saved from closure by a last-minute deal.
Alstom’s plant in Derby employs 3,000 people. It completed its final trains in March and was set to enter a drought period.
This threatened the company’s viability, with employees told earlier this month that a redundancy process would be started.
But a last-minute deal has saved the company from closure, with Transport Secretary Mark Harper agreeing to sign off on a vital new order for 10 new commuter units.
After initial talks failed, the French company’s boss Henri Poupart-Lafarge met with the Transport Secretary to impress the seriousness of the situation, a source told the Telegraph.
The Government agreed to finance an extra five trains for the Elizabeth Line in addition to five others that had already secured outline funding from the Treasury.
It also agreed to finance the construction of Aventra trains, featuring a total of 90 railcars, sources close to the talks said.
Transport for London, which will own the new trains, still needs to present a formal business case for the purchase, though that process is not expected to pose significant hurdles.
The closure of Alstom would have thrown the HS2 programme into chaos and made Britain the only G7 country without a combined train design and manufacturing capability.
An Alstom spokesman said: “The parties have agreed to conclude discussions as soon as possible and no later than the end of May. This could help secure the future of the Litchurch Lane site.”
Mr Harper said in a social media post that he’d had a “constructive meeting” with Alstom on the future of train manufacturing in the UK and that intensive discussions will continue.
He told MPs in the Derby area that the onus is on the French firm to provide competitive pricing and transparency on costings to ensure the fast closure of the contract.
He also asked Alstom to invest in the Derby plant and make it a hub for design and production, allowing it to sustain jobs into the future.
