Alstom workers celebrate more than 50 years of service

Alstom, a global leader in smart and sustainable mobility, has marked a rare milestone by honouring two workers who have each notched up over 50 years’ service in the rail industry. Alongside a Long Service Award, Alex Brown and Nigel Freeman had the opportunity to drive an Aventra passenger train along Alstom’s Test Track in Derby.

Born in 1953 in Fontainebleau, France, electrical engineer Nigel Freeman has worked for Alstom – and predecessor company, General Electric Company – since leaving school in 1970. As part of his career, he has worked all over the world, including six years spent in South Africa, nine in Ireland and a three-month stint in the USA and Canada.

Mr Freeman’s role has seen him commission iconic train fleets into service, including the Class 465 and 466 Networker electric multiple units (EMUs), and he was the resident engineer for London’s Dockland Light Railway and Manchester Metrolink light rail systems. The 72-year-old has lived in Nottingham since 2012, where he today works as project and contract manager as part of Alstom’s maintenance of the tram fleet for Nottingham Express Transit (NET).

Lifelong career
Born in 1958 in York, Alex Brown began his career in 1975, when he enrolled at British Rail Engineering Ltd’s Apprentice Training School on Poppleton Road in the city. He then spent almost 20 years working at York’s Holgate Road Carriage Works, achieving the position of quality manager. From 1996, Mr Brown relocated to Derby Litchurch Lane Works, where he worked on tram projects for Strasbourg and Milan, before commissioning fleets closer to home in Nottingham and Manchester.

During a 14-year stint in Manchester as depot manager, he provided warranty support for the city’s 147 Alstom-built Flexity Swift trams – as well as Blackpool’s Flexity 2 fleet – before relocating to the East Midlands in 2023, where the 67-year-old currently works as a maintainer at NET’s Wilkinson Street Depot.

Alan Fravolini, project director at Alstom, said: “We are immensely proud to celebrate Nigel and Alex, whose remarkable careers amount to over a century of dedicated service to the rail industry. Their expertise, passion and commitment have helped shape many of the fleets that keep millions of people moving around the world today. Colleagues like Nigel and Alex embody the best of Alstom, and their achievements inspire the next generation of railway professionals who are joining our growing teams across the UK, Ireland and around the world.”

Marking their respective careers, Mr Freeman and Mr Brown were presented with their Long Service Awards by Rob Whyte, managing director UK and Ireland at Alstom during a lunch held in their honour at the company’s Derby Litchurch Lane Works. The facility is one of the world’s largest rolling stock factories, and the only UK factory that designs, engineers, builds and tests trains for domestic and export markets.

Mr Freeman said: “Throughout my 55-year career, many things have changed, from the technology we use to do our jobs, to how teams collaborate across countries and time zones. However, train travel has remained important throughout and the industry has always been powered by great people.”

A life on the railways
He continued: “My career at Alstom has taken me around the world, from South Africa to Ireland, and from mainland Europe to North America, giving me the chance to work with incredible colleagues from so many cultures. I don’t think there’s a profession that offers such variety, challenge and opportunity – I cannot recommend a life on the railways enough!”

In further recognition of their service, Mr Freeman and Mr Brown were invited to drive a Derby-built Aventra EMU along Litchurch Lane’s 1.6km-long test track following their award presentation on 20 January.

Mr Brown said: “It is an honour to receive this recognition, and to look back on a career that has taken me from the apprentice school in York to projects across the UK and Europe. Plus, getting to drive an Aventra train on the Derby Test Track was a unique experience that I will never forget!”

He added: “From Strasbourg to Nottingham, the constant in my career has been the people – skilled, committed teams who take pride in delivering safe and reliable transport. I’ve been fortunate to learn from brilliant colleagues, mentor apprentices coming through and see our work make a difference for passengers every day.”

Although both are based at NET’s Wilkinson Street Depot today, Mr Freeman and Mr Brown first worked together in the 1970s, when the former was helping manufacture the Class 312 EMUs in York and the latter was commissioning the trains into passenger service on the Great Eastern Main Line.