A £200 million ‘state of the art’ factory to build and commission trains for the domestic market is to be built in East Yorkshire.
Siemens, which has signed a long-term agreement for the lease of a 67-acre site in Goole, says it aims to start phased development later this year — if investment conditions are met, and subject to the company winning future orders.
The new factory is set to employ up to 700 people in skilled engineering and manufacturing roles, and a further 250 people during the construction phase; some 1,700 indirect jobs are expected to be created throughout the UK supply chain. The proposed building will cover some 75,000m
2 — equivalent to 10 football pitches.
Siemens’ chief executive Juergen Maier said: “Having considered a number of locations in the UK, I’m delighted to confirm that we’ve identified a site in Goole for our new UK rail factory.
“The location not only has the space we need for a facility of this size but also ready access to the skilled people we would need to build and operate the factory.
“This investment has the potential to have a tremendous impact on the Yorkshire economy and the North of England as a whole, ensuring that the benefits of infrastructure spending are spread widely and helping secure the on-going development of the UK rail industry.”
Gordon Wakeford, managing director of the mobility division for Siemens in the UK, said: “We have been a major part of the UK rail industry for over 20 years and have already invested hundreds of millions in our facilities, our people and technology over the past five years alone.
“This proposed new investment cements our company’s desire to further its presence in the UK’s rail market and underpins the on-going importance of the market here to our rail business globally.
“We are looking forward to working with our UK industry partners and supply chain to bring this vision for the future to reality.”
Siemens is already one of the biggest employers in the UK rail sector, with 4,400 employees working in rail and wider transport-related roles.
The new facility will complement Siemens’ existing operations, comprising some 450 trains in service and eight purpose-built maintenance facilities, plus wider activities in electrification, signalling and train control technologies.