STADLER HAS awarded BAM Nuttall a contract to build a new depot for the Merseyrail network at Kirkdale and to refurbish the existing Birkenhead North facility.
Stadler, which is supplying a new fleet of 52 trains for Merseyrail under contract to Merseytravel, is also taking over maintenance of the existing fleet later this year. Part of the deal to provide and maintain the new fleet included the upgrading of depot facilities for the network.
The Kirkdale site will include washing and stabling facilities, a maintenance shed with run-through tracks, office space and a simulator suite. The design includes the potential for the depot to be extended for 80-metre-long trains (the new trains as built will be 65 metres in length). At Birkenhead North, currently Merseyrail’s main depot, upgrades will include provision of a new washing facility, and once the new Kirkdale depot is up and running the Birkenhead North site will focus on overnight servicing and cleaning. The depot works are due to be completed in 2019, in time for the delivery of the first train for testing.
BAM Nuttall says the work will be based out of its Warrington office, and that it will use UK-based suppliers for the design and construction and the sourcing of materials.
