I am delighted that following months of hard work on this, with many meetings and conversations with both the Secretary of State and Alstom, there has been significant progress made on Alstom's production gap.
Following his meeting with Alstom CEO Henri Poupart-Lafarge, the Secretary of State has written to me today to confirm that the DfT “has now secured approval in principle to support funding for a further five Elizabeth Line trains, in addition to the five trains confirmed in March" and that "the onus is now on Alstom to provide competitive pricing… to enable this to progress to a satisfactory and swift conclusion”. This follows months of difficult talks and hard work on the part of the Department for Transport to identify a clear market need for these trains. It has always been the case that the Government have been keen to work constructively with Alstom, but any order of trains must meet a legitimate need and come with a robust business case.
The Secretary of State has also asked Alstom “to confirm in writing their long-term commitment to invest in Derby, including confirmation that Alstom will host the design, development and manufacture of its Adessia platform”. If Alstom were to follow through with this promise, this would be a significant investment in Derby and I do hope an agreement can now be found.
I have routinely pressed both parties to find a solution and I am so pleased this ambition can now be realised; the deal is not over the line yet, but I feel this is a significant step forward and will be welcomed by all those employed by Alstom and their supply chain.
