Off-peak ticket keeps train factory on rails

A last-gasp deal from the Department of Transport may have kept Britain’s biggest train factory open. The Litchurch Lane plant in Derby employs 3,000 workers and has 140 years of history. The owners – French firm Alstom – were planning to close it due to a gap in contracted work between later this year and 2026, when Alstom will start building trains for HS2. The government will plug the gap by funding development of more Aventura trains to run on the Elizabeth line – the popular but often disrupted Crossrail route across London. More trains might improve capacity, but the bigger problem is the Victorian-era rail infrastructure it runs along in West London and Berkshire. Extra units won’t prevent signalling faults or trees falling on tracks. Worse, if the at-risk HS2 stretch between London Euston and Old Oak Common is delayed further or scrapped, yet more passengers will cram onto the Elizabeth line to reach central London. The government could have kept Alstom happier and helped the future of the Elizabeth line by fully funding HS2 in the first place. Hitatchi’s train factory in County Durham is running out of work too.