Alstom to create £20m technology centre in Widnes

French multinational firm Alstom has secured planning consent for a £20m technology centre in Merseyside.

Halton Borough Council has today (May 17) given the firm the go ahead to acquire a 30-acre site in Widnes for the construction of the new facility.

Set to be known as the North West Transport Training Academy, the centre will serve as a hub for research and development, offering training in manufacturing, engineering, project management and other transport sector skills, upskilling the North West workforce and providing a raft of apprentices and graduates for the region’s rail industry.

The Training Academy will also be used to carry out maintenance work on the UK’s rail fleets, more than 50% of which are estimated to be past their half-life.

With Widnes’ proximity to Manchester, Liverpool, Preston, Chester and other industrial areas, the facility will serve as a central North West logistics hub with ready access to the region’s ports, airports, motorways and railheads, including the West Coast Main Line.

Founded more than 80 years ago, Alstom is the manufacturer behind close to one third of the UK’s rail vehicles and around half of those running on the London Underground.

The company employs a team of 3,200 people across 12 industrial sites in the UK.

Alstom’s senior vice president for Europe, Andreas Knitter, said: “This new centre is part of our global strategy to grow our service activities by localising our operations close to our customers. It allows us to react much more quickly to growth in local markets.

“The UK is one of the most exciting places in the world for train companies like Alstom to do business, so it’s important that we run the most efficient operation possible through modern facilities with the latest technology.”

Ground-breaking at the Widnes site is due to take place before the summer, with construction efforts scheduled to begin later this year and doors set to open in Autumn 2017.