More than 2,000 former LDV and Alstom workers forced onto the dole queues following the closure of their factories could be thrown a new jobs lifeline by a £200 million scheme.

Hopes of hundreds of new jobs in the Washwood Heath area rose after plans for a new rail maintenance depot to serve the high speed rail link were revealed.

Bosses at HS2 Ltd, the firm behind the £18 billion London to Birmingham rail project, have identified the Washwood Heath area as the favoured location for the depot.

If the £18 billion rail link is built, the maintenance depot would create up to 300 jobs directly and a further 1,000 indirectly.

The new depot would breathe new life into an area badly hit in recent years by the closure of both the Alstom train-making site, which shut in 2004 with the loss of over 1,200 jobs, and LDV, which closed in 2009 with the loss of over 800 jobs.

Transport authority Centro, which together with the Birmingham, Solihull and Black Country councils, Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, Birmingham Airport, the NEC and Marketing Birmingham is backing HS2, welcomed the proposals.

A report by HS2 said: “We have concluded that a site in the Washwood Heath area, which includes what was the Alstom rolling stock manufacturing site, was a credible option to assess. We estimate the cost of constructing the depot to be £200 million.”