4 | Aycliffe Today Business
BUSINESS BRIEFS
UTC MARKS FIRST YEAR
Gestamp Tallent and Hitachi Rail Europe celebrated UTC South Durham ’ s first academic year after its first 12 months in operation .
Company bosses joined UTC staff for the official opening of the Hitachi Rail engineering hall and the Gestamp robot cell during the celebration event .
Already 140 students have studied at the college in the first year , with an additional 200 due to start in September .
FIRM MOVES TO AYCLIFFE
A technology company has been hailed as one of the region ’ s undiscovered gems after moving to the Aycliffe Business Park .
Excelpoint decided to move after outgrowing offices in nearby Shildon , and is now based in Evans Business Centre .
The company ’ s software enables organisations to create bespoke business systems without writing a line of bespoke code .
NETPARK ’ S £ 12.6M EXPANSION
Work has begun on infrastructure works which will form a key part of major expansion plans at a County Durham science park .
The construction of a 1km road at the North East Technology Park ( NETPark ) in Sedgefield will access a further 26 acres of development land .
The new road and infrastructure works forms Phase 3 of ambitious expansion plans at NETPark to create additional space for research and development companies and create 1,400 new jobs .
GROWTH HALTED
Productivity fell in the first few months of the year , bringing an end to a recent run of growth , according to new figures .
The Office for National Statistics ( ONS ) said labour productivity as measured by output per hour fell by 0.5 % from the final quarter of 2016 , to the first three months of this year .
It ’ s the first fall since the end of 2015 .
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The Queen hitches ride on Hitachi train
On 13 June 1842 , Queen Victoria made the journey from Slough to Paddington and became the first British monarch to travel by train . The train that day was driven by Daniel Gooch and assisted by Isambard Kingdom Brunel .
To mark this unique occasion GWR recreated the journey between the two stations using its new Hitachi-built Intercity Express Train , in the presence of HM The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh .
The Royal party were joined on the train by Isambard Thomas and Gillian White , the direct descendants of Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Sir Daniel Gooch .
Following the naming ceremony , The Queen was presented with a pair of specially designed coins Tim O ’ Toole , Chief Executive of GWR ’ s owner ’ s FirstGroup presented The Queen with a pair of specially designed coins which will become a feature of GWR ’ s new trains .
Great Western Railway ’ s Intercity Express Train marks the start of the biggest fleet upgrade in a generation on GWR ’ s network and is the first major intercity fleet to be introduced on the UK rail network from some
20 years . It is due to enter passenger service first on the Great Western Railway in the autumn this year , and will enable longer trains with more seats , faster and more frequent train services .
The trains are being built by the 900-strong workforce at Hitachi its North East factory in Newton Aycliffe , as part of the Government ’ s £ 5.7bn Intercity Express Programme .
Her Majesty was greeted at Slough Station by school children from four local schools who had produced their own drawings to mark the occasion .
Businesses tap into burgeoning rail sector
More than 100 businesses from across the North East heard how they could tap into the billion pound rail sector at a sell-out conference .
Business Durham , together with the Rail Alliance and the County Durham Engineering and Manufacturing Network , held the event at Durham Cricket Club , in Chester Le Street , to help companies take advantage of the burgeoning rail sector .
Delegates heard from a range of speakers , including Robert Hopkin , executive director of the Rail Alliance and Michael Noakes of the Department for Business Energy and
Great Western Railway ’ s Intercity Express Train marks the start of the biggest fleet upgrade in a generation
Industrial Strategy who highlighted the £ 100 billion of investment the UK Government has committed to invest in the sector by 2020 .
He told the conference that with the North East ’ s record of engineering and innovation , many companies in the region were placed to provide the goods and services needed . Representatives of Hitachi Rail Europe were also among the speakers who shared the company ’ s experience of developing a new supply chain in the North East since Hitachi opened its flagship multimillion-pound plant in Newton Aycliffe , County Durham , in 2015 .