Bombardier

Train manufacturer Bombardier is stepping up production at its three UK sites, after temporarily suspending work due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

At the start of the lockdown, the company suspended work at its Derby Litchurch Lane factory, Ilford repair facility and Crewe Works overhaul centre. The sites remained closed for around three weeks, before the company was able to restart work at all three following Government advice on social distancing.

In a statement, the company told RAIL on May 29: “When COVID-19 struck, we acted swiftly to protect our people by pausing production and restarting three weeks later with full social distancing measures in place. We are now ramping up production as Bombardier in Derby has a full order book and excellent prospects.

“We are in discussions with Government to ensure we have sufficient liquidity to offset the short-term costs of the virus on our operations. The proposals we are discussing with Government are support for contractual changes which have no impact on the taxpayer.”

The company is currently delivering the final Class 345 electric multiple units for Crossrail, ‘710s’ for London Overground, and ‘720s’ for Greater Anglia. South Western Railway Class

701s should start to be delivered in the near future, while work is under way on Class 730s for West Midlands Railway. Production of Class 720/6s for c2c should also start soon. Bombardier also has a deal to build light rail vehicles for Egypt.

Apart from the Egyptian contract, the trains are from the Aventra platform, with the Crossrail, London Overground and Greater Anglia orders all significantly late. The SWR deal is also behind schedule, while the WMR trains are due for delivery this year.

The Aventra platform has been beset by problems with its Train Control Management System (TCMS), which caused the LO trains to enter service 14 months late. None of the GA trains is yet in service, even though the entire 111-strong order should have been by March.

Production at Derby is now at around 60% full capacity, with constraints caused by the supply chain recovery as well as social distancing. Work at Crewe and Ilford is back to normal levels.