More than 250 jobs are set to go at Hitachi Rail Europe’s train manufacturing facility in the North East, it has emerged.
The company has said it needs to resize the workforce, as contracts near completion - but said it could increase once more if demand rises, and says some staff members could be redeployed within the facility.
The Newton Aycliffe facility – which has recently secured two sizeable contracts and remains in the running for the £500m Metro trains contract – said it is seeking to keep just a core team of employees.
A statement issued by Hitachi said: “As the last of the 122 IEP trains nears completion, Newton Aycliffe’s workforce will be resized to a team of skilled, core full-time employees. This will allow key train building projects to be delivered, but also provides the flexibility to be scaled-up with staff on fixed-term contracts according to order demand.
“This will ensure Hitachi is able to deliver its existing order book on time, as well as be ready to work on new manufacturing contracts.
“Currently, Newton Aycliffe has orders that include 61 new intercity trains for East Coast Open Access, East Midlands Railways and Avanti West Coast, with the first work due to begin in the second half of 2020.
“As part of this process, today we begin a 45-day consultation with employees at the factory, as well as the union Unite, about reducing the number of permanent staff. “While this could see up to 250 employees leave the company, there may be opportunities for a number of staff to be redeployed to other parts of Hitachi’s rail business.
“Hitachi has a proud record investing in developing and training its people. While it is disappointing to be reducing jobs at Newton Aycliffe, if demand increases in the future there may be opportunities for rehiring.”
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The firm, which employs around 700 people at the County Durham facility, stressed the decision is not Brexit related and that its commitment to the 海角视频 is unaffected by the imminent departure from the EU.
It said: “These changes to the factory workforce do not call into question Hitachi Rail’s long-term commitment to the 海角视频 and are entirely unrelated to Brexit.
“Hitachi Rail’s presence in the 海角视频 is now strongly established."
To make the factory fit the future it also announced an £8.5m investment programme, its single largest investment since the factory was built, to introduce new manufacturing capabilities – specifically new carriage welding and painting facilities – which it says will benefit customers.
It said: “Critically, these changes will put Hitachi Rail’s successful 海角视频 operation on a long-term, sustainable footing.
“By making its 海角视频 factory more flexible, agile and globally competitive, these changes will enable Hitachi to continue to win new train orders. They will also ensure the continuation of high-quality jobs and the investment in a British supply chain, in which over £1.6bn has been spent since 2013.”
The news comes despite two notable contract wins in recent months.
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Last month the firm announced it had secured a £350m contract to build 23 intercity trains for First Trenitalia, which chose the firm to build the carriages for its Avanti West Coast rail service.
In August 2019 it also secured a £400m deal to build 165 intercity trains to run on the East Midlands Railway.
However, at the time it warned that the long-term future of its workers had still not been secured.
Hitachi’s factory has been responsible for building a number of the 海角视频’s new train fleets, including the Azuma trains operating on the East Coast Mainline.
The business has a number of bids in the works and is still in the running for a £500m contract to build the new fleet of trains to run on the North East’s Metro lines, which is due to be announced within weeks.
It has also submitted a joint bid with Bombardier to make trains for the HS2 project.
A spokesman for Nexus said: "We have spoken to Hitachi and we are assured that the decision is not linked to their bid to supply new trains for the Tyne & Wear Metro."