(09 Mar 2022, 12:41 pm)peter wrote Looking at the article you linked to, Martijn says 'there would be a lot of work to do on the final plans...Chester le Street depot could be part of that.' The article says that the company 'appeared to refute any suggestion that the depot would close' but to me the quotes provided don't say that explicitly...just that nothing's been finalised yet.
The article also states (4th paragraph) that "The company has since responded to the claims, refuting any suggestion that there are plans to close the site which has been open since 1912"
Which appears to be in conflict with the quote you've pulled from the article, but I'd say still amounts to a ruling out. As you say though, plans can change, but I'd suggest changing them so soon after refuting something would not go down well with the workforce. Political suicide, you might say...