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Traction/rolling stock currently built in UK for export

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mind the gap

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Hi all,

Whilst trying to get off to sleep last night it was mentioned on the radio during a EU debate that there was traction/rolling stock currently being built in the UK for export?

I must admit that I was a bit sleepy, but took this as built in the Uk for direct export, ie not entering in service in the Uk.

Can anyone confirm if this is true and if so what types?

Thankyou,

Mind The Gap
 
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fgwrich

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I can't think of that many since the Derby built Mk3s for Irish Rail other than the Gautrain Electrostars for Johannesburg South Africa assembled by Bombardier also in Derby.
 

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Domh245

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As fgwrich says, there aren't any at the moment. The only 2 manufacturing plants in the UK are Bombardier at Derby (whose order book comprises of some class 387 units, the class 345 Crossrail stock, and the class 710 new London Overground stock) and Hitachi at Newton Aycliffe (whose order book is full of IEP units, class 385 scotrail units, as well as various units for TPE and GWR). Hitachi opened their plant in Newton Aycliffe to be able to export rail vehicles to Europe, however, you've got to feel that since Hitachi also purchased a plant in Italy (and have since started filling it with UK orders), Newton Aycliffe will almost certainly be building non-export stock for a while.
 

Harbornite

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This is an interesting topic and one that I have thought about before. I have feeling that WH Davis recently built some wagons for Kenya.
 

al.currie93

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This is an interesting topic and one that I have thought about before. I have feeling that WH Davis recently built some wagons for Kenya.

Thanks for mentioning that - just did some research on them and I didn't know that we still had an independent wagon manufacturer! Would be great if they do still export.
 

WatcherZero

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There were the Bombardier for South Africa a couple years back as well. Nothing on the books and as far as I know since all the UK plants are full for the next 3-4 years nothing being bid either.
 

LNW-GW Joint

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I'm never quite clear if Alstom Preston (ex-EE/GEC) produces traction packages for non-UK Alstom builds.
They produced the traction packages for Eurostar 373s and the Pendolino 390s, but I suspect Alstom source continental TGV and Pendolino packages in France, also for their Coradia EMU range.
It's very likely they are part of the wider Alstom design team though.

UK components/designs do find their way into foreign builds.
eg Brecknell Willis pantographs, Knorr-Bremse brakes (was Westinghouse).
Plus a variety of UK-designed signalling systems (Siemens, Alstom and now Hitachi).
 
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Mikey C

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Perhaps Vivarail have a secret order for the D-train from SNCF :)
 

superkev

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As fgwrich says, there aren't any at the moment. The only 2 manufacturing plants in the UK are Bombardier at Derby (whose order book comprises of some class 387 units, the class 345 Crossrail stock, and the class 710 new London Overground stock) and Hitachi at Newton Aycliffe (whose order book is full of IEP units, class 385 scotrail units, as well as various units for TPE and GWR). Hitachi opened their plant in Newton Aycliffe to be able to export rail vehicles to Europe, however, you've got to feel that since Hitachi also purchased a plant in Italy (and have since started filling it with UK orders), Newton Aycliffe will almost certainly be building non-export stock for a while.
Newton aycliffe a strange place to build a train factory with export in mind. I think for exporting somewhere where continental loading gauge could be moved from would be more appropriate.
K
 

DarloRich

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Newton aycliffe a strange place to build a train factory with export in mind. I think for exporting somewhere where continental loading gauge could be moved from would be more appropriate.
K

move by road to Teesport / Port of Tyne. Load on ship. Job done. Next ;)
 

61653 HTAFC

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Newton aycliffe a strange place to build a train factory with export in mind. I think for exporting somewhere where continental loading gauge could be moved from would be more appropriate.
K

Part of the IEP deal was, I think, to build an assembly plant somewhere in need of regeneration, to create jobs etc. Whilst there are places in Essex and Kent (for HS1) that might have qualified, they wouldn't have won votes that would otherwise be Labour... Land for said factory would've been more expensive too. I suppose somewhere nearer the coast would've been better in some ways though.
 

pemma

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Just looking on the Bombardier UK website I can't find any mention of trains being built for use abroad. There's a mention of their UK engineers working on the design for the V300 ZEFIRO and also aircraft parts being built in Northern Ireland for use on the CS300 planes.
 

ChiefPlanner

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Some 170 clones went to South Africa for the new airport service. (think it was 170's)

Derby built some trams too not so far back.
 

Harbornite

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Some 170 clones went to South Africa for the new airport service. (think it was 170's)

Derby built some trams too not so far back.

I think you are referring to the Gautrains, which have already been mentioned.
 

edwin_m

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The Strasbourg Eurotrams were built in Derby along with the Nottingham trams of the later Incentro design. However I think the trams of both types for other cities (Porto, Milan, Nantes) were built overseas.
 

NSE

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There's the ex-BREL 158's which were modified and sent to Thailand. Gutted I didn't see them when I was in Bangkok. I did however go on the Suvarnabhumi Airport line with the Siemens 360's. Though they are British Stock I think they're made in Germany? Must say, it was nice to hear that Desiro whirl and door beep thousands of miles away from home.
 

61653 HTAFC

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There's the ex-BREL 158's which were modified and sent to Thailand. Gutted I didn't see them when I was in Bangkok. I did however go on the Suvarnabhumi Airport line with the Siemens 360's. Though they are British Stock I think they're made in Germany? Must say, it was nice to hear that Desiro whirl and door beep thousands of miles away from home.

They were a separate order from the Regional Railways fleet, modifications were specified by Thailand Railways from the get-go. They weren't diverted from the BR order. The Siemens stock are broadly similar to the GB 360s but again were never planned to be sent here. They were just a follow-on from the British order. Both Desiro fleets were indeed built in Krefeld, Germany.
 
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BestWestern

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Do they build anything in the Plasseur premises at Hanwell-ish? Or is it just a servicing location?
 

DarloRich

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Do they build anything in the Plasseur premises at Hanwell-ish? Or is it just a servicing location?

The equipment is built in Austria and shipped over here. Repairs are done at West Ealing. I was told recently that Plassers account for c.6% of all Austrian exports!
 

Harbornite

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Bit OT, but here's the data for Austria's exports in 2014
http://atlas.media.mit.edu/en/visualize/tree_map/hs92/export/aut/all/show/2014/

And sorta back on-topic is the export data for the UK:

http://atlas.media.mit.edu/en/visualize/tree_map/hs92/export/gbr/all/show/2014/


You can break it down to see what the UK exports in terms of railway-related products.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
If we go into more detail, we can see how much freight wagons the UK exported in 2014:

http://atlas.media.mit.edu/en/visualize/tree_map/hs92/export/gbr/show/8606/2014/


And electric locomotives

http://atlas.media.mit.edu/en/visualize/tree_map/hs92/export/gbr/show/8601/2014/

And locomotive parts

http://atlas.media.mit.edu/en/visualize/tree_map/hs92/export/gbr/show/8607/2014/


Interesting stuff.
 

Harbornite

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Thankyou all for your replies and discussion

it was a good choice of topic and one that is overlooked. It's a pity that the UK doesn't export the amount of rolling stock that it used to, but that's how it is unfortunately. At least domestic demand is high.
 

507 001

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The Gautrain stock wasn't built here as such (The first couple of train sets were).

Instead the components and body shells were manufactured here and shipped to RSA where they were finally assembled.
 

Bletchleyite

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Does anyone know why they opted for the UK loading gauge for a new build system and not the much wider choice of stock they'd get if they had opted for UIC gauge?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

WatcherZero

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Its mostly narrow gauge in South Africa, I understand they opted for Standard Gauge over UIC because they were just looking for a heavy metro not a high speed train.
 
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