A massive new order could come to the York-based Thrall Europa wagon-makers, it was announced today.

The York works is in the running to manufacture 20 new EuroSpine wagons - which piggyback trailers and containers - to operate a new freight-carrying service between Glasgow and London.

The announcement by English Welsh and Scottish Railways came as the city was today celebrating the first railway wagon of 2,500 ordered by EWS off the Thrall Europa production line, an event that took a year and around £6 million worth of investment to materialise.

And all this on the Holgate Road site where in December, 1995, the final 700 workers at ABB lost their jobs when the carriageworks was starved to death of orders.

The decision whether to manufacture the EuroSpines in York or Slovakia has yet to be taken. One of the problems York would have to face is a rescheduling of its production plans to meet the initial 2,500 wagons order over the next five years.

Two prototype EuroSpines built by Thrall Car of Chicago, each consisting of four segments, have just gone into service for EWS, carrying trailers for Parcelforce.

Politicians, industrialists and workers today expressed their joy at the formal unveiling of the first two-tonne iron wagon at Thrall Europa, by Craig Duchossois, chairman and chief executive of parent company Thrall Car of Chicago.

Mr Duchossois said: "The combined efforts of our respective organisations have made it possible to design and produce new wagons from a facility that was vacant one year ago.

"In the process EWS and Thrall Europa developed further insight into the issues and requirements of the UK market that will prove beneficial in developing future designs and specific wagon types to support significant freight transportation growth.

"We are celebrating not only the delivery of the first wagon to EWS, but also the beginning of a long-term, sustainable presence in Europe."

The ceremony was heralded in banners in streets near Thrall and around the National Railway Museum where a social function this afternoon has been marking the occasion.

Wagons of this kind will be used by British Steel to carry steel coils all over Britain and this is the first of a batch of 310 of this type.

Other wagon types which will be manufactured for EWS over the next five years.

see COMMENT 'A fantastic achievement'

see NEWS 'Sharon en-Thralled with her job'

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