THE FIRST pictures have been released of a Newport factory which will create 300 jobs building trams and trains.

The plant, created by Spanish firm Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF) was announced in July, is being built at Celtic Business Park, a 100-acre site in Llanwern.

The location was chosen because of its links to roads, rail and ports, as well as the availability of local people with engineering skills.

Andrés Arizkorreta, CEO for Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF) recently met Welsh First Minister, Carwyn Jones and Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Transport, Ken Skates, to update the Government on progress for the construction of the brand new factory.

The firm is building some 300 trains and coaches for the UK market - including delivery of the new Caledonian Sleeper; TransPennine Express, West Midlands Trains and Northern fleets and the company says the factory is "perfectly timed as CAF continues to strengthen its position as a manufacturer of choice for the UK rail industry".

Richard Garner, CAF’s UK Director said, “The factory will have the flexibility to allow us to respond to the exacting demands of both existing and new customers by providing the most complete offering of any rolling stock provider operating in the UK.”

The factory site will be over 46,000 square metres in size; and is being designed to ensure that CAF has the flexibility to build a range of different trains there, including trams; suburban and inter-city metro trains and high speed trains.

The floor area is 15,000m2 - equivalent in size to two Cardiff Principality rugby pitches, with an internal volume of 167,125m3 which would hold 1,500 double decker buses.

Some 3,500 precast concrete piles have been installed to support the structure which if stacked end to end vertically, would be four times the height of Mount Everest. In addition, over 10,800m3 of excavated material has been reused on the site, avoiding 1,350 lorry-loads on local roads.

CAF have joined with landowner and developer St Modwen and main contractor Bowmer & Kirkland in building the factory.

Rupert Joseland, Property Director St Modwen in Wales said, “Celtic Business Park is an important strategic site for both St Modwen and for Newport and we have ambitious plans to attract significant inward investment for the local area, with the potential to create hundreds of local jobs in the next 10 years. Securing the new CAF facility for the site is testament to this ambition.”

Bowmer & Kirkland Director, Robert Kirkland, said, “We are delighted to be working for CAF and St Modwen on this development which is bringing inward investment to Newport and the surrounding area. This will be an important manufacturing site and we are honoured to be part of its development.”

CAF plans to start recruiting people to work at the factory this spring, and will be offering training and apprenticeship schemes from Autumn 2018. Job opportunities include skilled technicians and engineers, management and support staff. The new factory will also boost the wider UK rail industry supply chain as CAF plans to develop a “cluster” of local and national companies to supply components for its trains.