REPORTS claiming the number of carriages to be produced at Hitachi’s planned train-building factory in the region is being cut have been firmly rejected.

The Department for Transport (Dft) has stamped on reports that cost-cutting will slash the number of carriages to be built at Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, to only 434 – a reduction of at least 100.

A rail magazine claimed the changes to the £4.5bn Intercity Express Programme (IEP) threatened the entire future of the assembly plant, which required a minimum of 500 coaches to be economically viable.

The figure of 434 would represent a cut of about 20 per cent on the indication, when the Dft gave the go-ahead to Hitachi, in March last year, of “at least 530 carriages” to be built.

However, last night, a Dft spokesman told The Northern Echo, categorically: “I can confirm the intention is still at least 530 carriages. We don’t know where Rail Magazine’s figure came from.”

The confirmation was welcomed by Sedgefield MP Phil Wilson, whose constituency includes Newton Aycliffe.

The Labour MP said: “Hitachi is complex, which means there are details that still need to be sorted out, but it is definitely going ahead.

“If it wasn’t going to happen, Hitachi would not be holding an open day, on June 28, when they have invited along hundreds of construction companies, to tell them what’s going to happen next.”

The project – first mooted as long ago as 2007 – is expected to reach “financial close” later this summer, when the Dft will confirm Hitachi as the company taking forward IEP.

The Northern Echo understands the company hopes to assemble up to 800 carriages at Newton Aycliffe, by winning further work at home and abroad.

It is one of four shortlisted bidders to supply 60 trains for the £14.8bn Crossrail project, a 73-mile route to link west and east London and Europe’s largest building project, a contract to be awarded in spring 2014.

IEP alone will secure at least 700 high-quality jobs in England’s poorest region, to deliver trains on key inter-city routes, plus many thousands more in manufacturing and service supply chains.

The Dft spokesman said: “Hitachi has proposed assembling the trains in a brandnew factory in Newton Aycliffe, creating at least 700 permanent jobs.

“Specialist welding will be done in Japan, as the Kasado factory is currently the only facility in the world with the right equipment.

“But Hitachi has also restated its intention to use Newton Aycliffe as its European base, which is great news for the UK supply chain and means that UK-built trains may soon be being shipped to other countries.”