400 companies to attend Hitachi IEP Open Day

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More than 700 individuals representing over 400 companies are set to attend the first Open Day event for Hitachi Rail Europe’s Intercity Express Programme in the north east in late May, an event organised by County Durham Development Company on behalf of the involved parties.

The companies will be the first to learn about the new business opportunities presented by the construction of Hitachi’s new manufacturing plant in County Durham, the fit-out phase and the manufacture of the UK’s next generation of passenger trains.

There will be millions of pounds worth of supply chain opportunities when work starts on the factory next year and when manufacturing of the next generation of Hitachi Super Express train begins.

The Hitachi Super Express trains, which will be used on the East Coast and the London – South Wales main lines, will be built in a new 450,000sq ft purpose-built factory at Newton Aycliffe.

Hitachi’s rail deal, which was confirmed by Transport Secretary Philip Hammond in March, will create 500 direct jobs by 2015 and thousands more in the supply chain.

Hitachi Rail Europe, together with Durham County Council (DCC) and Merchant Place Developments (MPD) are hosting an open day on 26th May at the Xcel Centre, Newton Aycliffe to give potential suppliers to the programme an opportunity to hear more about the project.

The open day will include presentations by Alistair Dormer of Hitachi Rail Europe, Cllr Neil Foster of DCC and Geoff Hunton from MPD – followed by an open Q&A session from the attendees.

So far, over 700 supplier company representatives have registered to attend and amongst them are many companies based in the North East of England, but the list also includes some international FTSE 100 companies.

Alistair Dormer, the managing director of Hitachi Rail Europe said:

“It is extremely encouraging to have this level of interest in the project, so early in the process. We are committed to using North-East suppliers wherever possible, and we want to start building the relationships and gaining a good understanding of the local businesses, what their strengths are and how we can work together with them.”

2 COMMENTS

  1. It is understood that the majority of components for the new trains (i.e. bodyshells, bogies, traction equipment, pantographs, brakes, diesel engines etc.) will be manufactured by Hitachi’s own factories in Japan and then shipped to Newton Aycliffe for assembly and testing. North East businessmen should therefore make certain that they ask Alistair Dormer to confirm that certain high-tech components will indeed be sourced locally, otherwise, the only other company to benefit will be the local supermarket supplying food for the canteen.

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