Transport firm Voith Industrial Services are bang on track after securing a £40 million five-year contract with the UK rail industry.

Warwick-based Voith has broken into the rail sector with its biggest-ever contract in the UK.

The £40 million contract is for cleaning Alstom-maintained trains on the West Coast main line operated by Virgin Trains and incorporating First ScotRail, Northern Rail and BTMS.

The work, carried out by nearly 500 staff, involves both on-board cleaning while the trains are running; turnaround cleaning between train journeys; and cleaning at 16 locations between London and Glasgow. In total 90 complete train sets, consisting of between four and 11 carriages, are cleaned every day.

Voith Industrial Services, well-known for providing technical expertise at major automotive car plants in the UK, broke into the bus sector two years ago and now provides overnight preparation services with its Make Ready Services package for more than 1,000 buses.

Voith Industrial Services, based at Tournament Fields, Warwick, won the Alstom contract against fierce competition from established providers.

Phil Spencer, Voith Industrial Services’ sales and business development director, said: “We are delighted to have won this major contract. We believe that our technical approach to cleaning operations sets us apart from the competition in this sector.

“Our detailed processes of measurement, self-audit, continuous improvement, evaluation and feedback have been refined from our well-known automotive sector experience.”

Voith Industrial Services is well established in the automotive industry carrying out technical cleaning services in paint shops for Jaguar Land Rover and General Motors.

The on-board cleaning for Alstom includes the clearing of waste, cleaning and sanitising the toilets, and attending to spillages.