THE visitors’ book at Hitachi Rail Europe is filled with names.

Scribbled in all manner of handwriting styles, they are uniquely individual.

Yet one thing remains common; the word ‘interview’.

The trainbuilder now employs more than 500 people at its factory in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, and isn’t finished yet.

Bosses want 730 staff to oversee work on rolling stock for the East Coast and Great Western routes under the Government’s Intercity Express Programme.

They also need people to craft Scottish commuter trains and manufacture stock for the TransPennine Express franchise, which links the North-East with Leeds, Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Interviews, it seems, will be on the agenda for a good time yet.

Speaking exclusively to The Northern Echo, Karen Boswell, managing director, said creating employment opportunities in the North-East is all part of Hitachi’s long-term commitment to Aycliffe and the UK.

Revealing the wider business, which encompasses offices in London and Milton Keynes and maintenance sites in the capital and Kent, will have more than 2,000 people in the next two years, she said it is dedicated to strengthening its standing.

Ms Boswell, who was previously managing director at East Coast Trains and led the company to its highest ever levels of customer satisfaction, said that will come from building on existing contracts.

She said there is scope for agreements to include HS2, where Hitachi’s bullet train concept could be used, new London tube trains and European markets, with its Aycliffe workforce at the forefront of any deals.

“The team comes from a broad church of backgrounds and we are spending a lot of time of their development”, said Ms Boswell, who received an OBE for services to the UK rail industry in last week’s Queen’s Birthday Honours list.

“Producing top-quality trains is in the DNA of the region; people are passionate about what they do and it matters to them.

“Having a highly-motivated and proud team is fantastic for me as a business leader.

“There is a buzz here, it’s palpable and people can see the long-term future.

“This is a very good news story.

“We are recruiting at least two people every single day across the board.

“It’s pretty exciting stuff and over the next two years we will be over 2,000 people strong across the country.”

To fuel that growth, said Ms Boswell, who was born in Bristol and whose ancestors were coal miners in South Wales, would mean Britain staying in the EU.

It’s a warning the Japanese company has made on a number of occasions, with senior figures saying its UK investment could be pared back in a Brexit.

She said: “The UK is an incredibly buoyant market for rolling stock and it is in the EU.

“There are huge opportunities because the EU market is so big, which means there are opportunities for this factory to have longevity.

“My advice to people is to think carefully about this; we are not an island anymore.

“It’s for the British people to decide but why would you want to tap off your ability to trade with the EU?”