The Global Centre of Rail Excellence (GCRE) project, which aims to create the world’s integrated train and rail infrastructure testing facility in the Dulais Valley, has secured industry wide endorsement.

More than 100 industry names have signed a letter supporting the project they can see value in it for their respective businesses and organisations. Signatories include HS1, Hitachi, XRail, Keltbray, Thales and British Steel and the Rail Forum.

The Welsh Government £400m project, on the site of the former Nant Helen opencast mine and Onllwyn washery, will see two electrified rail track testing loops - one extending to 6.9 kilometres able to test high-speed rolling stock at a maximum speed of 177km per hour and an inner four kilometre loop allowing speeds of 65km per hour. It will also be able to test new developments, such as hydrogen powered rolling stock, and infrastructure like signalling.

Chief Executive of the Welsh Government-owned company that is driving the project GCRE Ltd, Simon Jones said:“It’s fantastic to see the number and diverse range of companies signing up to this letter endorsing the exciting Global Centre of Rail Excellence vision and seeing commercial benefit in it for their businesses and the wider industry.

“What’s pleasing are that companies large and small have signed the letter, many from across Europe and with a reach and presence in all quarters of the continent. That’s because what we will have at GCRE will be unique to Europe – a facility that in terms of services such as infrastructure testing, is replicated nowhere else. This proves once again that the commitment and customer base for the GCRE business is very strong and the commercial appetite is there from across Europe.

“Our business is building high-profile interest and clients, all wanting to use the world class infrastructure we are building and move on from the patchwork of facilities that currently exist. This is industry and the market endorsing the proposition we are building and showing their commitment to us. This letter highlights clearly the strong and growing commercial confidence the industry now has in the GCRE development.

“This letter shows that companies see in the Global Centre of Rail Excellence a genuinely world class research, testing and certification facility where they can work to overcome those challenges.

“GCRE really is a once in a generation opportunity, something that can help make the UK a world leader in rail innovation technology and net zero transition.”

Elaine Clark, chief executive of the Rail Forum and one of the signatories to the supportive letter said:“What people see in the Global Centre of Rail Excellence is the ability for their business to have access to a genuinely world class innovation facility that they can use to develop new ideas quicker, bring new products to market faster and to showcase those developments to potential clients; both from the UK and overseas.

“All of that they can do at the Global Centre of Rail Excellence. It’s a one-stop-shop where they will find international standard kit, know how and facilities that are unavailable anywhere else in Europe. It’s a place for the industry to develop new ideas and find a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

“We have to take the opportunity that’s in front of us to get GCRE built and to make the UK the best place in Europe and the world to undertake cutting edge rail innovation.”

. The £400m overall cost of GCRE - for which the UK Government has already committed to providing £20m alongside £50m from the Welsh Government- also includes a hotel, a high-tech business park, rolling stock storage maintenance and sidings, a dual-platform test facility, as well as a control centre and space for related R&D, education and training purposes. The site could also have its own renewable energy sources.

The test track elements have an indicative price tag of £250m. However, the project - which will aim to leverage millions of pounds further in private sector funding will only materialise if the GCRE, for which enabling work in under way at a site covering 475-hectares, raises the required £330m. Professional advisory firm EY has been appointed to oversee the fundraising, a combination of debt and equity, of GCRE Ltd.

Equity investors will take an ownership stake in the overall GCRE project alongside the Welsh Government. The project has also secured a funding commitment of nearly £8m from the UK Government funded Innovate UK.

In July it was boosted with £15m in research council funding for a related railway research and innovation centre.

The funding the Research Partnership Investment Fund has been earmarked for a new centre of excellence for railway testing, validation and customer experience at the GCRE. It follows a successful bid from a consortium led by the University of Birmingham, working alongside Cardiff and Swansea universities.