Porterbook is a rolling stock owner and asset management company that has worked at the heart of UK rail for more than 25 years, owning around 25% of the national passenger train fleet and has just added The Long Marston Rail Innovation Centre to its portfolio of assets.

The innovation centre is situated near Stratford-upon-Avon and is a 135 acre site featuring a 2 mile circular test track and 12 miles of secure train storage which is connected to the national rail network.

Porterbook is planning a large investment for the site facilities, which will benefit its customers and suppliers throughout the rail industry, as well as bringing new employment opportunities.

The Long Marston Innovation Centre falls within the Warwickshire, West Midlands and Midlands Connect Boundaries and is Porterbook’s first working delivery facility which works well alongside the companies London headquarters and its East Midlands Engineering Design and Asset Management Centre in Derby.

Partners of Porterbrook, Chrysalis and the University of Birmingham, will remain on the site and will eventually be joined by other businesses who share in the vision to transform Long Marston into a premier centre for railway innovation.

Long Marston will house the UK’s first hydrogen-powered train, HydroFLEX, which will be appearing at the UN Climate Change Conference COP26 in Glasgow in November 2021.

Porterbrook Chief Executive Mary Grant said:“I am delighted to bring Long Marston and its skilled people into the Porterbrook family. Our decision to add this extensive facility into our portfolio means that this site now has firm strategic direction and a secure long-term future.”

“To meet the ambitions set-out by the ‘Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail’ we need to have an unremitting focus upon sustainable delivery, innovation and collaboration. Porterbrook is committed to supporting this ambition and our new Long Marston Rail Innovation Centre will help achieve this.”

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