How do newly built trains get onto the tracks to begin with?

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Slow news day at Yahoo! News

How do newly built trains get onto the tracks to begin with?

I mean, they can weigh hundreds of tonnes, and some trains like the Eurostar are 394m long. Their sort-of-conical wheels aren’t exactly suitable for roads, either.

So, I thought I’d ask Ben Goodwin, the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) and Ireland’s communications director for Alstom (a multinational rolling stock manufacturer) about how it all works. Here’s what I found:

Most trains are basically built onto the tracks

Goodwin explained that Alstom’s train-building site, which has been running at Derby Litchurch Lane since 1876, is “connected to the main line.”

“All our trains are built to British standard gauge. Therefore, once they roll off the production line and are tested on-site, they can be transferred straight onto the UK rail network,” he explained.

Goodness - I always thought that babies were delivered by storks and trains by cranes!

[eXPassenger]

The exception of course is the channel Tunnel shuttle where and new rolling stock will have to be assembled on site.

[eightonedee]

Mr Goodwin should have been asked - why then are there a stream of lorries leaving Alstom's works near La Rochelle each loaded with an item of new rolling stock (or at least there were some years ago when I was last there)?

[broadgage]

Many rail works have sidings that connect to the rest of the network A new train will be built on  a track in the works and the driven under its own power, or more likely be hauled to the place of use.
If the works are not rail connected, then  new rolling stock will be built on an isolated track system at the works, moved outside and then placed on a road vehicle for transport. The total weight is not really relevant, each vehicle would be moved separately.