Plans for a new state-of-the-art train factory in East Yorkshire could mean a £200 million investment and 700 new skilled jobs, the engineering giant Siemens said.
The German firm says it has secured a site in Goole and plans to establish a major new plant to manufacture and commission trains in a move which “has the potential to have a tremendous impact on the Yorkshire economy and the North of England as a whole”.
The move would be Siemens’s second landmark investment in East Yorkshire following its £300 million wind turbine blade plant, which employs hundreds of people 30 miles east in Hull.
Impression of interior of planned new Siemens train factory in Goole (Siemens/PA)
The firm said the new factory could employ up to 700 people in skilled engineering and manufacturing roles, plus an additional 250 during the construction phase.
And it said it expected around 1,700 indirect jobs to be created throughout the UK supply chain.
Juergen Maier, chief executive at Siemens UK, said: “We’ve said for some time that future success for Siemens in the rail industry would see us opening a rail manufacturing plant here and this announcement provides additional substance to those words.
“Having considered multiple locations in the UK, I’m delighted to confirm that we’ve identified a site in Goole for our new UK rail factory which not only has the potential scale we need for a facility of this size, but also ready access to the skilled people we’d need to build and operate the factory.
Mr Maier said: “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 to ensure the ongoing development of the UK rail industry.”
Siemens built Class 700 train (Siemens/PA)
Siemens said it already employs 4,400 people in the rail and wider transport sector out of a total 15,000 strong UK workforce.
It said there are currently 450 Siemens-built trains in service and the company has eight purpose-built maintenance facilities in the UK.
Plans for the 67-acre site next the M62 in Goole include sidings and the potential for the development of a test track.
Transport secretary Chris Grayling said: “This exciting proposal by Siemens underlines the benefits of this Government’s £13bn investment into improving and modernising Northern transport, providing major firms with the fast, reliable connections required to recruit a skilled workforce and deliver cutting-edge innovation.”