Railway renaissance at Washwood Heath

Having closed several years ago, the site of the old Metro-Cammell factory at Washwood Heath will soon have a new railway use, housing a major HS2 train depot. Peter Plisner visits the site to find out how work’s progressing.

It’s a site that’s steeped in railway history. The factory that stood at Washwood Heath, about a mile outside Birmingham city centre, was the place where (most recently, under the ownership of Alstom) the Class 390 Pendolino tilting trains were assembled.

But under its original name, Metro-Cammell, it built trains for railways and metro systems all over the world.