Alstom Awarded TransPenine Express Maintenance Contract

Alstom has been awarded a contract worth €40 million by TransPennine Express  to maintain two fleets of 25 brand new five-car trains from their entry into commercial service in 2019 to 2024, with an option for two additional years.

The works will take place at Alstom’s maintenance facilities in Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow. Alstom will create 25 new permanent jobs across these three sites to deliver the project, along with new training and apprenticeship opportunities delivered via Alstom’s recently announced Widnes Technology Centre.

The fleets, which will provide an extra 13 million seats a year, comprise 12 five-car Civity UK Intercity electric trains and 13 five-car Intercity trains. The electric trains will run between Manchester and Liverpool to Glasgow and Edinburgh, whilst the diesel vehicles will run initially between Liverpool and Newcastle.

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“Alstom is a world expert in maintenance, able to service non-Alstom fleets as for this order. With 12 train care centres and over 3,000 highly-skilled employees based in Britain, we are well-placed to deliver. Our UK business is entering a hugely successful period. We recently received planning consent to acquire 30 acres of land for the construction of a new Technology Centre at Widnes to make our operations in the UK even more modern and efficient” said Henrik Anderberg, Acting Managing Director, Alstom UK and Ireland.

[/quote]TPE’s Managing Director, Leo Goodwin said: “This is great news for our customers and we are delighted to have concluded the deals that will bring much needed and much wanted extra carriages across our network.“This will enable us to transform the customer experience over the life of our franchise and our new train fleets will form a key part of this improvement. Whether travelling to work, for business or leisure, our services are going to offer more seats, improved connectivity and a higher standard of comfort. The on-board experience will be second to none and we will provide customers with a real alternative to the car and congested road network.”

Alstom’s latest contract with TransPennine Express follows its recent completion of major refurbishment work on the Pendolino fleet, which comprises 56 Class 390 ‘tilting’ trains used by Virgin on the West Coast Main Line. The project was Alstom’s fourth heavy overhaul of the fleet.