en.Wedoany.com Reported - CAF Rail UK, the British subsidiary of Spanish company CAF, has inaugurated a £10 million bogie overhaul centre at Lowry Park in Manchester, creating 30 initial jobs and strengthening the company's local vehicle maintenance capabilities. Operating on a two-shift system, the facility can overhaul up to 300 bogie frames and 1,200 mounted axles annually. Final drive overhauls are scheduled to begin in 2027, with all components and materials supplied through a just-in-time delivery model from CAF's central warehousing facility in Stockport.

The Lowry Park centre employs a U-shaped production flow to handle the complete overhaul cycle of bogies and wheelsets. Components enter through the receiving and dispatch area, undergo initial inspection and disassembly, then move to a cleaning zone equipped with a shot blasting booth and non-destructive testing equipment. Wheelset operations utilise horizontal lathes and a wheel press. Frames and wheelsets are repainted in dedicated spray booths, followed by assembly and final inspection on a bogie press. Phase two in 2027 will add a final drive overhaul station. The centre maintains minimal on-site inventory through a just-in-time supply chain from Stockport. CAF Rail UK expects employee numbers to double as operations expand; the site will also serve as a training centre for new staff. The specific allocation of the £10 million investment between construction and equipment procurement has not been disclosed.

The project aims to meet the needs of CAF's entire current UK fleet, which comprises over 1,200 vehicles across more than 10 fleets, including Class 196 Civity diesel multiple units operated by West Midlands Trains and Class 197 diesel multiple units operated by Transport for Wales. CAF's decision to internalise bogie and wheelset overhauls aligns with the industry trend of European manufacturers localising heavy maintenance capabilities near major fleets. The Manchester facility eliminates the previous logistics chain between UK operators and CAF's Spanish overhaul facilities, helping to reduce turnaround times amid increasingly stringent scrutiny of fleet availability metrics by the Department for Transport. Meanwhile, CAF has been contracted to build the UK's first tri-mode trains for LNER (London North Eastern Railway) on the East Coast Main Line, and the Lowry Park investment demonstrates the company's strengthening industrial footprint in the UK to address growing maintenance workloads towards the end of the 2020s.