THE most thrilling – and also one of the most stressful aspects of this job - is that you cannot predict what is going to happen next.

One minute you are checking the final version of a front page story and the next you are throwing it in the bin because it has been rendered redundant by breaking news.

Anticipating what will grab the headlines on any given day is a risky business.

But I am going to stick my neck on the line and say that the front and the back pages of Thursday’s edition of The Northern Echo will feature the image of a train.

For only the second time in its history the Echo will produce a special wrap to go around the usual edition of the paper that celebrates a day of great significance for North-East industry.

In association with Hitachi Rail Europe, Durham County Council and Business Durham, we will also be publishing a souvenir supplement to showcase a momentous event.

The opening of Hitachi’s train factory, or Rail Vehicle Manufacturing Facility (RVMF) to give it its Sunday name, is arguably the most important investment in County Durham for a generation.

By next spring the Newton Aycliffe facility will employ about 400 people as new trains for the government’s IEP (inter city express programme) start to roll out. Hitachi Aycliffe will eventually employ 730 people, possibly more if it secures additional contracts.

At its peak the site was employing 400 builders who have produced a stunning factory, test track, offices and research department.

The RVMF will offer opportunities for apprentices and Hitachi has pledged to offer its staff the chance to develop long-term careers.

All of this is great news for an area whose engineering and manufacturing sectors are enjoying a bit of a renaissance.

The Echo has covered the Hitachi story in depth since we first became aware that developers were hatching an audacious bid to bring train manufacture back to the area where Robert Stephenson gave Locomotion No 1 its first trial run.

The paper backed the campaign for Aycliffe to secure the investment, and it has reported every stage of this landmark development, as a patch of former farmland was turned into a centre of manufacturing excellence. Thursday will be the culmination of a lot of hard work for Hitachi, Merchant Place Developments, Shepherd Construction and the scores of backers who have made this project a reality.

There will be more challenges to come, but whatever happens Hitachi and its support team richly deserve their place in the spotlight.

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