Gregg goes inside the train factory

DERBY’S Alstom train factory will be featured on primetime TV in the latest episode of Inside the Factory.

Viewers will get an insight into how trains are made during the BBC 2 programme, which airs at 9pm tonight.

It will see presenter Gregg Wallace learn how a new electric train is manufactured at the 84-acre Litchurch Lane hub, where thousands of local people work.

Starting from the design stage, experts at Alstom will show the MasterChef star how an Aventra train is built and then tested.

The episode has been previewed on the Freeview TV guide website, which remarks on Gregg’s childhood love of trains and reveals more details about the train-making process he will be showing viewers this evening.

Part of the preview reads: “When he was a child, Gregg loved playing with toy trainsets.

“Now he’s got special access to learn how the ultimate model is made: a huge 187-tonne, fivecarriage electric train. At the 84-acre Alstom factory site in Derby, each one takes up to a thousand hours to complete.”

The show’s airing comes at a good time to put Derby’s trainmaking prowess firmly in the spotlight. The city is currently campaigning to become home to the headquarters of Great British Railways (GBR), which would potentially create hundreds of jobs and see millions invested in the city.

Last month, the Department for Transport (DfT) announced that Derby had been shortlisted, and would be competing against Birmingham, Crewe, Doncaster, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and York to be the location for the headquarters of the new public sector organisation that will oversee Britain’s railways. As well as Alstom, the city is also home to the Rail Accident Investigation Branch, in Stores Road.

A public vote on the six shortlisted locations for its headquarters has been opened. The outcome of the vote will “play a crucial role”, but the final decision will be made by the DfT.

To vote, you need to go to the GBR Headquarters vote webpage.