After 176 years and 107,000 trains, a final, shiny red-and-white double-decker carriage rolled off the production line at the Alstom factory. René Strabue, works council head of the factory, said the 500 workers were departing with feelings of “wistfulness and anxiety”. The Görlitz factory in Saxony is just one part of a wider picture of major German manufacturers pivoting to military production. In the 1930s, during the build-up to the second World War, Nazi Germany ordered the Görlitz plant to manufacture armoured personnel carriers. Some 90 years on, the new KDNS plant will manufacture components for Germany’s bestselling Leopard 2, Puma and Boxer tanks.

Source: The Irish Times December 24, 2025 12:03 UTC