Euroclad’s Elite 51 wall system and Euroclad’s Elite 1 roofing reinforces the environmental detailing at the new Hitachi Rail Europe manufacturing facility.

Nearly 900 new railway carriages will be made in a brand new factory constructed at Merchant Park, Newton Aycliffe. In an order placed by the Department of Transport for its Intercity Express programme, 112 of the 122 Class 800/801 train sets (totalling 866 train carriages) will be built at the site.

The site will also be home to a research & development facility and 1.1km of over-head electrified test track.

Hitachi Rail Europe is also contracted as the supplier of trains to Abellio’s ScotRail programme where the majority of the AT200 commuter trains (46 three-car trains and 24 four-car trains) will also be built at the new facility in County Durham.

Main contractor Shepherd Construction was awarded the project for the 31.5 acre site which holds a special significance in the history of passenger rail, with the track adjoining the site being the one that was used by Robert Stephenson and Company to run Locomotion No. 1.

Products used in this construction included vast areas of steel roof and wall cladding, as well as a 25kVa power supply, a total of 2000t of steel (comprising 77,700 components) and 3772 Trina solar modules which will generate a targeted 1MW of electricity.

The choice of 9,800m2 of Euroclad’s Elite 51 wall system and 38,600m2 of Euroclad’s Elite 1 roofing, reinforces the project’s environmental detailing with both systems having been subject to a full cradle to cradle lifecycle analysis.

The profiled steel sheets were manufactured to order at Euroclad’s Cardiff factory and delivered to site along with all other components of the Elite roof and wall systems.