In December 2021, it was announced that the rolling stock for HS2 would be produced as a joint venture between Hitachi and Alstom, and that part of the manufacturing for this order would take place at Newtown Aycliffe.

[2][3][4] During June 2008, three companies, the British infrastructure specialist John Laing Group, the Japanese rolling stock manufacturer Hitachi and the British investment firm Barclays Private Equity, created the Agility Trains consortium for the purpose of jointly bidding for the contract to design, manufacture, and maintain a fleet of long-distance trains for the IEP.

[note 1] Hitachi announced its intention to proceed with construction of the facility in July 2012, after financial closure was achieved for the part of the train order that concerned the GWML.

[19][20] During January 2016, it was announced that Hitachi's successful tender for the Edinburgh to Glasgow Improvement Programme consisting of new Class 385s would be primarily assembled at Newton Aycliffe, and as part of FirstGroup's successful tender for the TransPennine Express franchise, it was announced in March 2016 that new Class 802 rolling stock would be assembled at Newton Aycliffe.

[21][22] It was stated by Hiroaki Nakanishi that a UK vote to leave the European Union would result in a scaling back of investment in Newton Aycliffe, a comment which was echoed by local Labour politician and backer of Britain Stronger in Europe, Phil Wilson.

The company said that it would be bidding for a proposed bi-mode fleet for the East Midlands franchise and the replacement trains for the Nexus contract on the Tyne and Wear Metro.

[26] In late 2019, it was announced that Avanti West Coast had ordered 23 A-train units to replace the 20 strong fleet of Class 221 Super Voyagers.

[31] During December 2023, Hitachi opted to write down the value of the Newton Aycliffe plant by £64.8m, raising concerns over its future, as well as that of the wider British rail manufacturing sector.

The company publicly emphasized that this decision did not directly threaten the future of the plant and that its production capability remained available for further rolling stock orders if they are placed.

[32] In April 2024, a company spokesperson remarked that closure would be inevitable if new orders were not forthcoming to keep the site active; it was also reported that redundancies at the facilities could possibly commence as soon as that June.