Spanish manufacturer CAF (Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles) has confirmed it will start building trains in a new factory in south Wales.
The facility will be built at Celtic Business Park, a 100-acre industrial development on the site of the former Llanwern steelworks. The company plans to create 300 jobs, 200 of which will be in position when the factory opens in autumn 2018.
The site has been chosen because of links to roads, rail and ports, and the availability of local skills. CAF is spending £30 million to get the site up-and-running, and has received grant support from the Welsh Government’s Inward Investment Programme.
Wales’ First Minister Carwyn Jones called the announcement a “major coup for Wales and a big vote of confidence in Wales’ manufacturing industry”.
CAF said it aims to build both trams and trains at the site. The company is targeting contracts with London Underground, Docklands Light Railway and HS2, as well as the Wales and Borders, West Midlands and South Eastern franchises. Previously all the vehicles it has built for the UK have been constructed in Spain.
- For much more on this, read RAIL 831, published on July 19.
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FrankH - 13/07/2017 13:01
Excellent, others should follow if they want to supply stock to our network.
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AndrewJGwilt1989 - 15/07/2017 19:38
Good for CAF to have a new facility in Wales that we will see new jobs created and new trains being built.
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AndrewJGwilt1989 - 16/07/2017 09:29
Excellent news for South Wales and for the whole of the UK that CAF are to have a new train manufacturing plant in Newport and to manufacture new trains and other rolling stocks for the UK.
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