DARK clouds are again gathering over Holgate Road. The gloom that now pervades the Thrall Europa site is depressingly familiar.

The last years of the York carriageworks were dogged by uncertainty as orders dried up. When the plant finally closed for good in 1995, 750 jobs were axed and, it seemed at the time, the city's proud train-building heritage was ditched with them.

That was why July 16, 1997, was such a memorable day. When John Prescott came to York to officially announce Thrall Europa's arrival, the site was decked out in red, white and blue flags. He joked that it was like VJ Day.

And the city was celebrating a new dawn. The return of train building was a massive confidence boost, and kick-started a more prosperous era for York.

This time, we thought, it was going to be different. Thrall was investing millions, laying foundations for the long term.

Its initial contract, to supply 2,500 wagons to EWS, would last five years. But Thrall bosses said they were confident of winning more orders. And council officials said they had investigated Thrall's viability, wanting to avoid a repetition of the order-book crises that dogged the old carriageworks.

Five years on, and the EWS contract is about to end. There are no new orders. Crisis has engulfed Holgate Road once more.

Thrall Europa is refusing to comment. This is a worrying response, suggesting that bosses are adopting a siege mentality. But they have an obligation to be open with the workers whose livelihoods are on the line, and with the public who helped fund their relocation to York.

Everyone must pull together. Already, York's political leaders have pledged to unite to secure the plant's future.

Thrall Europa bosses should think back to why it chose York in the first place. They were won over by the aggressively positive attitude of the city council and its partners: the "can-do" approach.

If Thrall harnesses that "can-do" approach again, this vital manufacturing works can be saved.

Updated: 10:48 Monday, March 04, 2002