Alstom has inaugurated a new bogie overhaul facility in Manchester in the presence of Sir Richard Leese, Leader of Manchester City Council. The site which is 3,600 m²and counts 63 new employees is capable of overhauling up to 26 bogie sets every week.

Based within Alstom’s traincare centre in Longsight, the facility has already started the overhaul of the Virgin’s Pendolino high-speed train fleet since the beginning of January of this year. A total of 1,148 bogies will be overhauled by March 2016. The workshop is capable to cater for other Alstom trains, such as the Coradia regional trains, as well as non-Alstom trains.

During the overhaul, the bogies are washed and stripped, frames are checked and repainted. Wheelsets, gearboxes, drop links, yaw dampers and other associated components are overhauled or exchanged. The bogies are then reassembled and tested before being fitted to a train.

Terence Watson, President of Alstom UK, said: “This new workshop has been specially developed as a result of Alstom’s experience and learning from the overhauls the company has carried out over 20 years and it is designed to optimise mileage between overhauls and to increase fleet availability.”

Alstom has major industrial sites in the North West of United Kingdom such as in Preston, Liverpool, Chester, and Manchester, counting more than 500 employees.