Three rail giants have been shortlisted for a £500m contract to build a new fleet of trains for the Tyne and Wear Metro.
Spanish firm CAF, Swiss manufacturer Stadler and Japanese giant Hitachi - all of whom have º£½ÇÊÓƵ bases - remained on the shortlist after it was whittled down from the previous five bidders. Bombardier and Downer/CRRC have been eliminated from the bidding process.
The winning bid will be announced in January next year, with the new fleet of trains due to arrive between 2021 and 2024 to replace the 40-year-old carriages currently serving parts of the North East.
Members of the North East Joint Transport Committee were told at a meeting on Tuesday afternoon that the remaining bidders had all proved themselves to be "manufacturers of high quality trains" and had made bids in line with the region's aims on price and quality.
CAF has factories in Spain, France, the US, Mexico, and Brazil, as well as a new assembly plant in Newport. It is currently building a new fleet of trains for Northern Rail and is competing to build for HS2.
Hitachi established a new factory in Newton Aycliffe in 2015. From there it has delivered the new Azuma intercity trains for the London North East Railway. Stadler has a factory in Liverpool and is building a new Merseyrail fleet.
Tobyn Hughes, MD of Metro operator Nexus, said: "This is another hugely important step towards delivering a new fleet of trains for the Tyne and Wear Metro.
"We are down to the final three bidders. Each firm has a proven track record of building trains for railway systems throughout the world.
"We have carefully evaluated the bids and will now begin the final stage of the process where bids will be refined. Bidders will then come back with best and final offers and we will sit down and pick a preferred bidder.
"The winner will then start the task of designing and building 42 new trains, which will transform the passenger experience of the Metro system."
Nexus, which owns and manages Metro, has been in detailed negotiations with the five bidding companies since September last year.
No details of what the three finalists are offering have been revealed, due to the procurement process being ongoing, but Metro bosses have already outlined what they want from their new trains, which will have a 35-year lifespan.
They will include air conditioning, Tube-style linear seating to increase capacity, wider doors and aisles, and digital features such as wifi connectivity and charging points.
The successful bidder will also be tasked with building a new maintenance depot in Gosforth, Newcastle.
Coun Joyce McCarty, deputy leader of Newcastle City Council, told the meeting that Metro needed to continue investment into its track infrastructure in order to ensure that the new trains are able to deliver the improved reliabilty the network so desperately needs.
