Factory and depot for HS2 herald boost
A cutting-edge high-speed train factory and a new maintenance depot could be built in the Midlands as HS2 creates thousands of jobs, a leading engineering firm has today revealed.
Power giant Alstom, which has sites in Stafford and Wolverhampton, intends to bid for billion pound contracts to build the trains and infrastructure if the £50bn project gets the go-ahead from MPs.
The company today revealed that contracts for the trains alone could see a jobs boost of 4,000 posts.
A factory to build the trains would create around 700 jobs and is likely to be built in the region because it would be at the heart of the high-speed network, the firm said.
A new maintenance depot would also have to be built to service the trains rather than an extension to the current Alstom site in Wolverhampton, which is used to service Virgin Pendolino trains.
The new 'train care centre' could also see more than 100 new jobs created. Construction of the two sites is also thought likely to create hundreds of building jobs.
The lucrative contracts would also help secure thousands of jobs at sites across the UK for the French firm.
A new video released by the company and today available to view on expressandstar.com, gives the first insight on life inside the luxurious 225mph shuttles.
The design is based on Alstom's AGV train which runs in Italy.
