Posted 19th September 2019 | 3 Comments

Protests after claim that Hitachi has lost T&W contract

THERE have been protests in north east England after a report claimed that Hitachi has been ruled out of the three-way contest to build a £500 million fleet for Tyne & Wear Metro.

The other contenders are CAF and Stadler, and the source of the claims says ‘insiders’ at Nexus have been told that Hitachi will be ‘overlooked’.

Ben Houchen, who is Tees Valley Mayor, described the alleged decision as ‘appalling’.

If Hitachi was awarded the contract the new trains would probably be built at Newton Aycliffe in County Durham, where the Hitachi plant needs more work.

Mr Houchen added: ‘The new Nexus trains will be built by a foreign company, rather than one just down the road. We must stop this madness.’

Both Nexus and Hitachi have declined to comment on the claims. A spokesman for Nexus said: ‘The successful bidder will be officially announced in January.’

Reader Comments:

Views expressed in submitted comments are that of the author, and not necessarily shared by Railnews.

  • Michael Breslin, Liverpool

    Nexus have stated that no final decision has yet been made and Hitachi are still in the running along with Stadler and CAF. Ben Houchen appears to be panicking for no reason.
    [A number of media sources, including the BBC, reported that Hitachi was out of the contest, but this is rumour and we tried to make that clear in our story. We also quoted Nexus as saying ‘The successful bidder will be officially announced in January.’--Ed.]

  • Andrew Gwilt, Benfleet Essex

    And Bombardier, Alstom and Siemens have pulled out of the contract to build new Tyne & Wear rolling stocks. I think that Stadler should win the contract and to build new metro stocks for the Tyne and Wear Metro.

  • king arthur, Buckley

    Ah, Ben. Suggesting that we should buy and hire British is considered a right wing taboo these days.