Why Doncaster is best place for Great British Railways headquarters - Yorkshire Post Letters

Following your report on the best place in Yorkshire to host the headquarters of Great British Railways, I am pleased to say that the bid by Doncaster has already attracted some 3,000 expressions of support along with the backing of 200 businesses, six local authorities and 12 MPs from across South Yorkshire and beyond.

They recognise the strength of Doncaster’s case in meeting the Government’s criteria. As well as being centrally located on the rail network it not only has a 170-year long rail heritage, but its importance to the industry continues.

As the base for over 50 rail companies, including leading names like Hitachi, Unipart and Volker Rail, it is part of a rail cluster across South Yorkshire with over 200 rail-related businesses.

This gives Doncaster and the surrounding area an unrivalled skilled workforce and world-class training facilities including The National College for Advanced Transport and Infrastructure which is producing highly skilled professionals to work in the rail industry.

A key criteria for the Government is that the HQ should contribute to the levelling up agenda.

Here various economic and social well-being data conclusively demonstrate that Doncaster has the most to gain from levelling up from amongst the leading contenders.

Having the HQ in Doncaster presents an opportunity to make a step change in the town’s and South Yorkshire’s status leading to it cementing its status as a rail centre of excellence so helping to attract further investment and create skilled, well-paid jobs.