£2M investment into railway company

Harry Needle Railway Company Ltd (HNRC) has secured £2m in funding to support ambitious growth plans to increase its capacity and capabilities and develop greener locomotives, creating 50 jobs over the next five years.

The investment was provided by national financier Frontier Development Capital’s (FDC) Advanced Manufacturing Supply Chain Initiative Recycled Fund (AMSCI). The funding is said to help the company provide additional advanced rail engineering support services and develop greener locomotives with lower carbon emissions for its own fleet of locomotives and those of its customers.

HNRC was established in 1999 and provides rail engineering and support services to rail manufacturers and rail operating companies across its three sites, all connected to the national rail network. HNRC is to increase its capacity and capabilities by adding an engineering shed space, a paint shop, and railway lines across its sites in Worksop and Chesterfield.

The expansion of its greener locomotives R&D program will lead to the modification of existing locomotives to become eco-friendly and sustainable by improving engine combustion, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing sustainable fuel use while remaining cost-effective. The company previously secured a £1.6m loan in 2019 from FDC to purchase and comprehensively refurbish one of its Workshop sites.

Harry Needle, Managing Director at Harry Needle Railway Company, said: “HNRC has established itself as a leading provider of advanced rail engineering and support services. This further investment plan reflects our ongoing commitment to expand our range of rail engineering and support services as well as reduce our carbon footprint by developing greener locomotives for ourselves and for our customers.

"This funding from Frontier Development Capital, following the previous funding received in 2019, will help us to reach the next stage of our plans for growth and create crucial new job roles to support this growth."

Jack Glonek, investment director at Frontier Development Capital, said: “Following FDC's previous funding for HNRC, which helped the Company grow significantly, this further funding will enable it to continue its growth journey including the development of greener locomotives for the rail industry.“

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