HITACHI’S North-East train factory might have an even bigger impact on the regional economy than first thought, it emerged last week.

Ever since a campaign was launched to bring the project to the North-East cynics have sniped that the 730 jobs Newton Aycliffe plant would be an “assembly line” rather than a fully-fledged train-building plant, because the shells of the trains themselves would be constructed by Hitachi in Japan before being shipped to the UK.

If you follow the same logic then Nissan Sunderland is also merely an assembly plant, albeit one that supports 7,000 direct jobs and makes more vehicles a year than the entire car industry of Italy.

At an event last week to mark the factory steel framework being installed Keith Jordan, the managing director of Hitachi Rail Europe, outlined his long-term ambitions for the Aycliffe site, which should allay the concerns of even the biggest doubters.

In addition to its £82m factory, Hitachi is considering whether to take up an option to develop an adjacent plot of land to build a sister plant where it could produce train body shells. The move would help to make Aycliffe a one-stop-shop for train building and boost its bids to land deals across Europe. Hitachi is already bidding to supply the German rail network, as well as make rolling stock for the route linking Glasgow with Edinburgh. It also wants to make the superfast trains that will run on the HS2 lines.

“We think trains that will transform the lives of people in Britain should be made in Britain. Why not?” said Mr Jordan. Why not indeed.

GUEST speaker at the Hitachi steel work event was Sedgefield MP Phil Wilson.

The day proved to be a cause of double celebration for Mr Wilson. While I was interviewing him he had to break-off and answer a phone call that confirmed that he had become a grandfather for the first time following the birth of Ayla May Wilson.

When we resumed our interview – which veered off into a discussion about the pros and cons of the EU – the Labour MP was understandably distracted. That can be the only reason why he described Christine Lagarde as “the woman in charge of MFI.”

I am sure that the IMF chief has many skills, but flogging oak dining furniture probably isn’t included on her CV.

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