{"id":282923,"date":"2025-09-12T19:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/railuk.com\/?p=182579"},"modified":"2025-09-12T19:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T09:00:00","slug":"alstoms-widnes-site-welcomes-its-first-ever-passenger-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=282923","title":{"rendered":"Alstom\u2019s Widnes site welcomes its first-ever passenger service"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Alstom has welcomed the first-ever passenger service in to its Widnes modernisation facility.<\/p>\n

On Saturday 6 September, a UK Railtours charter \u2013 The Industria Ditat \u2013 visited the 13,000 m\u00b2 Alstom Transport Technology Centre as it traversed rare track across the British network on its journey between Hertfordshire and North Wales. The Latin phrase \u2018Industria Ditat\u2019 translates as \u2018Industry Enriches\u2019 and is the motto of the Cheshire town of Widnes.<\/p>\n

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Topped and tailed by GB Railfreight locomotives 57303 and 60087, the train arrived as 1Z15 at Widnes at around 10:30am. It was welcomed by Mark McGrath and Tony Whitehead from Alstom\u2019s Central Operations team, who were on hand to ensure its safe arrival and stay.<\/p>\n

The train entered the facility onto the arrival\/departure line, parking behind a newly refurbished unit that was awaiting departure later in the day. The train remained on site for almost an hour, allowing the enthusiastic passengers on board a chance to observe and capture rare footage of a facility most have never had access to before. 1Z15 then left the site through Ditton Sidings to Ditton East Junction.<\/p>\n

Opened in 2017, Alstom’s Widnes facility is the UK’s largest and most sophisticated centre for train modernisation. Its vast size and close embrace of digital principles, makes it ideal for work on both intercity and commuter trains. Recent projects completed by the site include a \u00a3117 million refurbishment programme of Avanti West Coast\u2019s Class 390 Pendolino trains \u2013 the UK\u2019s biggest-ever fleet upgrade \u2013 and a \u00a325 million renewal of South Western Railway\u2019s Class 458 fleet.<\/p>\n

“Welcoming our first-ever passenger service to Widnes was a proud moment for the entire team based here. The visit by UK Railtours not only showcased the scale and capability of our Transport Technology Centre, but it also celebrated the passion and heritage that drive our work every day,\u201d said John Clerk, Widnes Head of Operations and Parts at Alstom.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cSeeing rail enthusiasts engage with our site from the train was a powerful reminder of how far we\u2019ve come and the exciting journey ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

After its Widnes stop, The Industria Ditat continued on towards its final destination of Glan Conwy Freight Depot via Llandudno Junction, before returning to Watford Junction along the West Coast Main Line. Passengers travelled in a mixture of Mark 2 and Mark 3 heritage carriages provided by Eastern Rail Services, all of which were built at Alstom\u2019s Derby Litchurch Lane Works.<\/p>\n

In lieu of an access fee, UK Railtours made a donation to Alstom Transport Technology Centre’s chosen charities \u2013 Halton Haven Hospice and Widnes Foodbank.<\/p>\n

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\u201cUK Railtours is tremendously grateful for all the assistance they received from Alstom to make this unique charter train possible,” said Liz Morris, managing director at UK Railtours.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe professionalism of the Alstom team was second to none, and ensured the safe and smooth operation of the train. To be able to offer such unusual \u2018rare track\u2019 charter services \u2013 to fascinating industrial locations \u2013 to our enthusiast passengers is a great opportunity to enhance our diverse range of trains.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt also allowed them to see and experience the continued evolution of our proud railway history in this 200th anniversary year, which Alstom is such a major part of.\u201d <\/p>\n

She added: \u201cUK Railtours wishes to extend a sincere thank you to the fantastic team at Alstom, and our friends at GB Railfreight and Eastern Rail Services, who collaborated to make this special day possible. We look forward to bringing more exciting exploration opportunities to our passengers in future and would be delighted to work with Alstom again!\u201d<\/p>\n

Image credit: Alstom<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Alstom has welcomed the first-ever passenger service in to its Widnes modernisation facility. On Saturday 6 September, a UK Railtours charter \u2013 The Industria Ditat \u2013 visited the 13,000 m\u00b2 Alstom Transport Technology Centre as it traversed rare track across the British network on its journey between Hertfordshire and North Wales. The Latin phrase \u2018Industria [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8202,47,180,85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-282923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-company-news","category-rail-news","category-rolling-stock","category-uk"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=282923"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282923\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":282924,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282923\/revisions\/282924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=282923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=282923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=282923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}