engineering

Hitachi Newton Aycliffe

Hitachi Newton Aycliffe is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Hitachi Newton Aycliffe rather than just read about it. In short: Hitachi Newton Aycliffe (also known as Newton Aycliffe Manufacturing Facility) is a railway rolling stock assembly plant owned by Hitachi Rail Europe, situated in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, in the North East of England. The Newton Aycliffe facility was created as a result of the Agility Trains consortium being selected to produce high speed trains for the Intercity Express Programme (IEP) in 2009.

Key takeaways

Hitachi Newton Aycliffe belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Hitachi Newton Aycliffe to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Hitachi Newton Aycliffe from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Hitachi Newton Aycliffe (also known as Newton Aycliffe Manufacturing Facility) is a railway rolling stock assembly plant owned by Hitachi Rail Europe, situated in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, in the North East of England. The Newton Aycliffe facility was created as a result of the Agility Trains consortium being selected to produce high speed trains for the Intercity Express Programme (IEP) in 2009. During 2011, Hitachi announced its selection of the site and construction work commenced two years later. The 43,000 m2 (460,000 sq ft) factory, which was officially opened on 3 September 2015, was completed at a cost of £82 million. Initially, the facility only performed assembly, using components that were produced elsewhere to complete trains, and no actual manufacturing operations took place. However, some manufacturing activities have been performed at Newton Aycliffe for later-built trains. Originally, the factory assembled the Class 800 and Class 802 trainsets for the IEP. However, Hitachi subsequently secured further orders, such as to produce Class 385 EMUs for the Edinburgh to Glasgow Improvement Programme, Class 802s for TransPennine Express, and a fleet of 165 vehicles for East Midlands Railway. By 2020, the plant reportedly employed around 700 people, and was engaged in building the Class 803, 805, 807 and 810 trainsets. In December 2021, it was announced that the rolling stock for HS2 would be produced as a joint venture between Hitachi and Alstom, and that part of the manufacturing for this order would take place at Newton Aycliffe.

History

Origins and construction

In 2005, the UK Department for Transport (DfT) decided to procure new trains to replace the InterCity 125 fleet on both the Great Western Main Line and East Coast Main Line, launching the Intercity Express Programme (IEP) to this end. During June 2008, three companies, the British infrastructure specialist John Laing Group, the Japanese rolling stock manufacturer Hitachi and the British investment firm Barclays Private Equity, created the Agility Trains consortium for the purpose of jointly bidding for the contract to design, manufacture, and maintain a fleet of long-distance trains for the IEP. On 12 February 2009, the Government announced that Agility Trains had been selected as the preferred bidder for the contract, with the Siemens-Bombardier consortia as reserve bidders – the value of the contract was then estimated at £7.5bn, including replacements for both Intercity 125 and 225 trains. In 2011, Hitachi chose the site of its British factory at developer Merchant Place Developments' Amazon Park (later renamed Merchant Park mid 2013) site in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, close to Heighington railway station and adjacent to the Tees Valley Line. Hitachi announced its intention to proceed with construction of the facility in July 2012, after financial closure was achieved for the part of the train order that concerned the GWML. This would be the first factory that Hitachi had built in Europe. On 1 November 2013, contract for the construction of the £82M 43,000 m2 (460,000 sq ft) factory was awarded to Shepherd Group on 1 November 2013. Construction of the factory was scheduled to start in 2013, with train production beginning in 2015, and the plant reaching full production capacity in 2016. Erection of the frame of the factory was complete by June 2014, with an official topping out ceremony held in October 2014.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Hitachi Newton Aycliffe

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Hitachi Newton Aycliffe claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Hitachi Newton Aycliffe before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Hitachi Newton Aycliffe ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Hitachi Newton Aycliffe

In research: Hitachi Newton Aycliffe appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Hitachi Newton Aycliffe in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Hitachi Newton Aycliffe is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2015 establishments in England, Buildings and structures completed in 2015, Economy of County Durham, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Hitachi Newton Aycliffe outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Hitachi Newton Aycliffe” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Hitachi Newton Aycliffe in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Hitachi Newton Aycliffe means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Hitachi Newton Aycliffe out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Hitachi Newton Aycliffe in simple terms?

Why does Hitachi Newton Aycliffe matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Hitachi Newton Aycliffe?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Hitachi Newton Aycliffe.