The organisation that operates the Very Light Rail National Innovation Centre has been sold to Dudley Council two weeks after going into administration.
Administrators from RSM UK Ltd have announced that following a “focused marketing process”, the Black Country Innovative Manufacturing Organisation (BCIMO) and its assets were sold to the council in a deal which they say will safeguard the future of the centre and help to revitalise its research activities.
The organisation that operates the Very Light Rail National Innovation Centre has been sold to Dudley Council two weeks after going into administration.
Administrators from RSM UK Ltd have announced that following a “focused marketing process”, the Black Country Innovative Manufacturing Organisation (BCIMO) and its assets were sold to the council in a deal which they say will safeguard the future of the centre and help to revitalise its research activities.
Commenting on the sale, joint administrator Deviesh Raikundalia, said: “We are delighted to have secured a sale that ensures the continued operation of the Very Light Rail National Innovation Centre and preserves its reputation as a leading innovation centre.”
Councillor Steve Clark, Cabinet Member for Resources at Dudley Council, added: “The council has previously provided financial support to BCIMO and so, when the board of directors put the organisation into administration, we made the decision to put in a bid for the business and assets to protect this investment.
“The bid was successful and as the owner of the site, we will now be receiving income from the existing tenants, while looking for an operator to take on the responsibility of operating the site.”
He added: “This was an invest to save decision, which will generate income for the council now and into the future, champion local innovation and support the creation of high value employment opportunities in our borough.”
The centre, which is on the site of Dudley’s old railway station, has pioneered much of the testing of the Coventry VLR vehicle, as well as providing one of three sites for testing its revolutionary ‘slab-track’ system.
Dudley Council will now begin the search for an operator of the centre. In recent months research and development specialist WMG at Warwick University had been looking to develop a partnership with BCIMO.
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Peter Plisner
Peter Plisner is a former BBC Correspondent and has spent more than 30 years writingand reporting on transport issues. Much of his coverage over the years hasbeen rail related. He runs his own transport and media consultancy business and publishes a variety of films on his Transport Matters YouTube channel.
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