EP Industries has received a £500k investment from the Rail Supply Growth Fund to develop a new road-rail vehicle (RRV) manufacturing facility in Alfreton, Derbyshire, UK.
According to the company, the investment is set to create five new skilled jobs and protect ten additional positions.
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Once completed, the facility will provide RRV services on location and will allow EP Industries to expand its service offering to include the testing, upgrading and repair of new and existing RRVs.
Planned to be built across a 5.9-acre site, the facility will be equipped with a replica ground track, an elevated railroad and station crossing rigs to test the RRVs in the same conditions as on the UK’s rail network.
Constructions of the facility began last year, with the commissioning planned to be carried out by mid-2018.
EP Industries managing director Eddie Pilsworth said: “In order to become a world leader in rail, the UK must make considerable improvements to its supply chain.
“The first step in this journey is ensuring that all those involved in rail maintenance are equipped with the most reliable and efficient machinery available – something that we hope to achieve by incorporating all elements of an RRV’s servicing into a single facility.
“The funding provided by the Rail Supply Growth Fund will help us to save our clients valuable time and resources, as we’ll be able to support them with an end-to-end service, ultimately minimising any disruption to customers caused by poorly tested vehicles breaking down on our rail network.”
The planned RRV facility will further help the Rail Supply Group, a supporter of the Rail Supply Growth Fund, meet its ‘Fast Track to the Future’ strategy, a proposal to improve productivity and passenger experience in the UK’s rail sector.
The national Rail Supply Growth Fund is managed by Finance Birmingham and supported by the UK Government.
