Spanish train manufacturer Talgo has formally abandoned its plans for a £40 million manufacturing plant at Longannet, on the Firth of Forth, following the failure of its bid to build the rolling stock for HS2.
Plans for a factory on the rail-linked site of the former Longannet power station were announced in 2018, but Scottish Enterprise has disclosed that the option for Talgo to purchase the land from Scottish Power has now lapsed.
Councillors in Fife say they were promised the plant would be built regardless of whether or not Talgo won the HS2 contract.
However, a decline in post-pandemic commuter traffic has reduced the scope for new train orders in the medium term, while the company would also have faced stiff competition from CAF, Siemens, Alstom and Hitachi, all of which now have UK factories.
We've read it in Today’s Railways UK - July 2022, p17
