Mayor welcomes £300m Hitachi order

North East Mayor Kim McGuinness has today (3 April 2025) welcomed a new £300m order by Arriva for cutting-edge trains that will be built in the North East by Hitachi.  
 
The Mayor visited the factory in Newton Aycliffe with Secretary of State for Transport, Heidi Alexander and Arriva, to celebrate today’s announcement. This latest investment follows another major order by First Group in December 2024.  
 
North East Mayor, Kim McGuinness, said: “I made it one of my first priorities as Mayor to secure the future of Hitachi in Country Durham, and with that the jobs of hundreds of people who work at the Newton Aycliffe plant. Today’s announcement confirming a new £300m order by Arriva for state-of-the-art trains is a sure sign we are succeeding. This is great news for Hitachi and its highly skilled workforce, showing there’s real confidence in advanced manufacturing in North East England.  
  
“This investment closely follows the First Group order we secured just before Christmas, and I’m so proud to say that in the very near future, the entire Grand Central fleet which links Sunderland to York and London will have been proudly built in our region.”