A TRAIN manufacturing company is offering a "once in a generation" chance to work at a groundbreaking new factory which is being built in Newport.

Spanish firm Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF) is developing the factory building trams and trains - the first of its type in Wales - at Celtic Business Park, a 100-acre site in Llanwern.

The company is continuing a recruitment drive for the 300 new jobs being created at the plant, which is expected to open in August.

Around 200 new staff will be taken on this year with the firm recruiting a wide range of different positions - from technicians, engineers and logistics specialists, through to production and testing operatives, to communications, payroll, finance, logistics and purchasing personnel.

Training for several of the positions will be provided at the company's base in Spain.

Graham Taylor, chief operating officer, said: "This is a fantastic opportunity which only happens once in a generation.

"This will be the first of its type in the country as Wales does not have a history of rail vehicle manufacture."

Newport was chosen as a location for the factory because of its industrial heritage, its links to roads, rail and ports, as well as the availability of people with engineering skills.

CAF is investing £30million into the development which is also being supported by the Welsh Government.

The factory site will be more than 46,000 square metres in size, and is being designed to ensure that CAF can build a range of different trains including trams, suburban and inter-city metro trains and high speed trains.

The floor area is 15,000m2 - equivalent in size to two Cardiff Principality rugby pitches, with an internal volume of 167,125m3 which would hold 1,500 double decker buses.

Some 3,500 precast concrete piles have been installed to support the structure which if stacked end to end vertically, would be four times the height of Mount Everest.

In addition, more than 10,800m3 of excavated material has been reused on the site, avoiding 1,350 lorry-loads on roads.

Newport was chosen as the site for the factory beating competition from more than 100 other sites across the UK.

AM Eluned Morgan, Welsh Language and lifelong learning minister, has called it a "major coup for the Welsh economy."

The recruitment day will take place at Coleg Gwent City of Newport campus on Monday, March 19, from midday until 6.30pm.

Booking is not required.