By 2025-11-06T11:00:00+00:00
Photos: Chris Howe
Crewe Works from the air.
UK: Alstom has completed a package of investments in its maintenance facility at Crewe.
Occupying part of the historic Crewe Works site, the expanded facilities opened on October 28 include three new heating, ventilation, and air conditioning testing cells, as well as refurbishment of the main offices and the expansion of the HVAC facility into an existing production hall.
Rob Whyte, Managing Director for UK & Ireland at Alstom, cuts the ribbon.
Attendees at the opening included Alstom Project Director Steve Hadfield and Rob Whyte, Managing Director for the UK & Ireland at Alstom, who led a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Crewe Works was originally opened by the Grand Junction Railway in 1843 to manufacture steam locomotives. As part of Alstom’s investment, development partner Woodhouse redesigned the 1 858 m² space to enable the office space to adapt and support Alstom’s growth plans. The design credits the building’s industrial heritage, stripping it back to expose the striking steel structure which dates back to the days of locomotive production.
A mezzanine level has been installed, housing a suite of modern meeting rooms, while the ground floor features a spacious open-plan office, additional meeting spaces and a welcoming reception area.
Most recently, Alstom has used the Crewe site to overhaul HVAC components and bogies. The facility currently has the capacity to overhaul approximately 40 units each week, but this is set to increase over the next 18 months to 65 per week. At the same time, the workforce working in this area will increase from 75 to 115.
Technicians working on the HVAC lines disassemble and then fully recondition the units before testing them in the cells. The three newly-installed climatic testing cells are capable of simulating in-service use, ensuring real-world conditions can be replicated before the units being returned to the relevant depots for reinstallation on vehicles.
The Crewe facility is currently being used to overhaul HVAC equipment fitted to Class 390 and 334 trainsets plus the Class 375, 377 and 387 Electrostar fleets. The expansion means that from January 2026 it can be used to overhaul equipment fitted to Class 220, 221 and 222 DEMUs and London Overground’s Class 378 EMUs.
Further work has taken place at Crewe to modernise other buildings on the site. These will be used to support production of bogies for the Class 895 high speed multiple units which are destined to operate on HS2 services. Manufacturing of 54 eight-car trainsets is expected to begin in 2027, with final assembly of the vehicles taking place at Alstom’s factory in Derby.
Meanwhile, work is currently underway to overhaul bogies from a range of trains manufactured by Alstom and Bombardier Transportation, including some from the remaining e300 Eurostar trainsets and a small number of HST power car bogies.
A dedicated line is used to maintrain 22 bogies per week from the Pendolino fleet used on West Coast Main Line services; up to four bogies are transferred back to the fleet’s home depot at Manchester Longsight every day to enable a full trainset to have its bogies swapped every Sunday evening. Because the bogies form part of the Pendolinos’ tilting mechanism, careful checks have to be made to ensure the refurbished bogies are perfectly level before being returned to use; a dedicated levelling press has been installed which is able to simulate the weight of the train in order for fine adjustments to be made to the bogie settings before they are approved for further use.
At its peak, Crewe Works employed up to 8 000 people, but today the workforce is around 315. However, the recent investment reaffirms Alstom’s commitment to the site, the company said.
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