NI bus manufacturer gets £50m order

NORTHERN Irish bus manufacturer Wright Group has won a £50 million order to deliver 450 buses over the next year to one of the UK’s leading transport operators.

The firm said the contract awarded by FirstGroup, which operates regional and intercity, commuter and bus rail services in the UK, was a major boost for the workforce at its Ballymena HQ.

FirstGroup, which has more than 9,000 buses in operation in the UK, yesterday said its bus division would order £160 million worth of new vehicles over the next two years from UK bus manufacturers.

The Wright Group hopes to win more orders from FirstGroup. It said work would begin immediately on the new contract and it is expected many of the new buses could be in service during the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

The family-owned group, which has been in business since 1946, said the contract would help it “rebuild” its order book. The firm had previously warned that market conditions were “challenging”. Two years ago, 235 jobs were under threat at its Northern Irish factory when a major order was cancelled. But the group recovered and has successfully won a number of substantial new multi-million pound contracts in the last year. Last month it secured a £55 million order to supply 334 vehicles to the German-owned Arriva.

Mark Nodder, group managing director, said the latest contract would help secure the future of 1,000 jobs in the North.

“It is also good news for the industry, for our workforce in Ballymena and companies in our supply chain,” Mr Nodder said.