Leeds-based William Cook Rail (www.william-cook.co.uk) has won two export orders worth millions of pounds to supply critical components to French rail giant Alstom over the next three years.

The family-owned business will manufacture structural parts for bogies on a range of Citadis Spirit light rail vehicles for service in Ottawa, Canada.

These are among the most complex and highly specified cast-steel components on the market; they will be precision-engineered at William Cook’s new £15 million rail plant.

The Citadis Spirit vehicles are designed for the high-capacity transport of passengers between suburban areas and the city centre, and they can operate in the most extreme weather conditions.

Alstom has won a 400 million euro contract to supply light rail vehicles and maintenance services to the Rideau Transit Group consortium, which is responsible for the 1.5 billion euro light rapid transit system.

The system is expected to enter full service in the spring of 2018; William Cook Rail is supplying an initial order of five trains, and there could be follow-up orders.