Taken from E&T magazine online
Siemens is seeking approval for a £200m “state-of-the-art” train manufacturing facility which could be constructed on a site in Goole, East Yorkshire.
The German engineering firm said it will create up to 700 jobs and a further 250 during the construction period. The announcement comes as the UK manufacturing sector struggles under the weight of Brexit uncertainty.
An outline planning application has been submitted and the facility will manufacture and commission state-of-the-art trains for the expanding UK market.
Siemens is also bidding to build trains for the UK’s upcoming HS2 high-speed rail service against competing firms such as Hitachi Rail, Bombardier Transportation and Alstom Transport. The winner is set to be announced later this year.
The application for the 104-acre Goole site has been submitted to East Riding of Yorkshire Council and the plans include 80,000m2 of manufacturing, commissioning, warehouse buildings and stabling sidings, as well as a four-storey, 5,000m2 office building.
Will Wilson, managing director of Siemens Rolling Stock division said: “With digitalisation, we can help make trains and infrastructure intelligent and reaching this milestone furthers our vision to create a sustainable, long-term and technically advanced facility that is an asset to the UK.”The first phase of the manufacturing facilities is expected to open in 2023 and the site will become fully operational in 2025.
In addition to the new manufacturing facilities, Siemens plans to locate its Digital Operations Centre onsite, to collect and analyse train-borne data for operators.
In November 2018, Siemens signed a £1.5bn contract to design and build a new generation of trains for London Underground’s Piccadilly line. The new tube trains will provide additional capacity and an improved passenger experience for millions of travellers.