Employees of Bombardier's manufacturing site in Derby, United Kingdom today welcomed His Royal Highness (HRH),The Duke of Cambridge, on his first official visit to the county of Derbyshire. His Royal Highness spent around an hour at Bombardier's site where he met with employees, as well as local officials, and had the opportunity to test drive one of the new trains being delivered for Transport for London's Elizabeth line — named this year in honour of Her Majesty's reign.

During his visit, His Royal Highness was given a site tour and inspected the company's assembly of Elizabeth line trains, where he met manufacturing, welding and painting apprentices who work on the site and are part of Bombardier's Apprentice Programme. The Duke also had the opportunity to test drive one of the latest-generation Bombardier Aventra trains that Bombardier is supplying for operation on the Elizabeth line. Other major orders for Bombardier's Aventra product family have also recently been received from London Overground and Abellio Greater Anglia.

Bombardier's Derby site is the only one that both designs and manufactures trains in the UK and is a global center of excellence for rail engineering and aluminium train manufacture. Bombardier Transportation in the UK is a complete provider of railway solutions, designing, building, testing and commissioning new rolling stock and signaling solutions, as well as providing a comprehensive maintenance and diagnostic service for rolling stock and railway infrastructure. The company employees 3,400 people in 17 sites across the UK, including 1,650 in Derby.