Bombardier Transportation’s Derby site has been celebrating 175 years of train manufacturing in the city. At an event attended by the Secretary of State for Transport (Patrick McCloughlin), the Mayor of Derby, local dignitaries, key customers, suppliers and the media, Bombardier presented Derby’s past, present and future rail transport technologies.

Bombardier’s Derby site is renowned for its ‘heritage’ locomotives, such as the Midland Compound and Tornado — trains that formed part of a presentation relating to on-going innovation. Some of the technologies included at this event were the “transformational sub-surface line trains being delivered to London Underground — and the first to feature air conditioning on the Tube”.

Francis Paonessa, managing director of Bombardier Transportation in the UK, said: “With the award of the Crossrail project in the 175th year of train manufacture in Derby, we are immensely proud to continue the tradition of designing and manufacturing high-performance trains for the UK.”