THE campaign to bring train building back to the Birthplace of the Railways was raised in the House of Commons yesterday.

Hitachi is poised to create up to 800 jobs directly and about 7,000 more in the supply chain by building a factory in Newton Aycliffe. It would construct the next generation of rolling stock for Britain’s railways, including the East Coast Main Line.

The Government has put the project on hold, saying it will consider the InterCity Express Programme as part of October’s Comprehensive Spending Review.

A consensus of North-East organisations, from unions to business groups to council leaders, is joining The Northern Echo in the Back on Track campaign to get the project moving.

Petitions, both on paper and online, are being organised.

The campaign aims to highlight how vital the project could be in starting to fulfil David Cameron’s pre-election pledge of rebalancing the North-East economy so that it is not reliant on the public sector.

At Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday, Sedgefield MP Phil Wilson, who is leading the campaign, said: “This will be the biggest investment in the North-East of England since Nissan.”

With David Cameron in the US, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg responded to the Parliamentary questions.

Mr Wilson asked: “Will the Deputy Prime Minister ask the Transport Minister to meet me and a delegation of North-Eastern business leaders and trade unionists, so that we can explain how important this project is to the region?”

Mr Clegg replied: “Of course that will be considered, as with everything else, in the Comprehensive Spending Round. The honourable gentleman will be aware that the previous government cut capital investment by 50 per cent.

“We are determined to make sure that investment in our transport infrastructure and in our built infrastructure is maintained, so that we do not repeat the recessions of the past and cut deep into infrastructure, which is so important to the long-term economic future of this country.”

Mr Wilson said afterwards: “It was a disappointing response because this is an opportunity for the Government to engage with the North-East in a sensible discussion. We are not trying to be party political here, we’re just asking for them to listen to our case.”

Today, Transport Secretary Philip Hammond is answering questions in the House.