£1.5bn tube train deal for Siemens could see millions invested in Yorkshire

Siemens Mobility has won the deal to both design and manufacture 94 state-of-the-art Deep Tube trains to serve the Piccadilly line.

The contract with Transport for London will facilitate a multi-million pound investment in a factory in Goole, East Yorkshire, creating thousands of UK jobs.

Twenty two UK suppliers have been identified in the bid to potentially work with Siemens Mobility Limited on the build of the trains andn at least 50 new apprentice and graduate positions could be created.

The award of this contract is a significant step allowing Siemens Mobility Limited to progress its plan to build a new factory in Goole, East Yorkshire, to manufacture and commission trains.

The Siemens Mobility factory would employ up to 700 people in skilled engineering and manufacturing roles, plus up to an additional 250 people during the construction phase of the factory.

As a result, around 1,700 indirect jobs would be created throughout the UK supply chain.

After completion, TfL will work with Siemens Mobility Limited to maximise the number of Piccadilly line trains being built in this facility.

More than 700,000 customers use the Piccadilly line every day. However, the combination of limited fleet size and old signalling technology has restricted TfL’s ability to increase capacity across the line for many decades.

Sabrina Soussan, chief executive of Siemens Mobility, said: “We are thrilled by today’s announcement.

“Our metro trains travel the equivalent of 60 times around the world each week, transporting millions of passengers comfortably and efficiently. With this extensive knowledge and our constant focus on value provision, we can drive down lifecycle costs and significantly improve the passenger experience.

“This has been key to our development of a unique proposition to meet London’s specific challenges and is essential to help TfL accelerate the growth of the Tube network and improve the capacity and reliability of its train services.

“Additionally we can further develop rail skills and our investment, something that is so important to our organisations and the continued success of the UK rail industry.”

Mike Brown MVO, Commissioner of Transport for London, said: “Today’s announcement of our intention to award the contract to design and build a new generation Tube train is a huge milestone for London Underground. We are delivering the biggest investment programme in our history to continue to improve customers’ journeys and support London’s population and employment growth. It also demonstrates once again that investment in London creates jobs and apprenticeship opportunities right across the country. These trains will transform the journeys of millions of our customers, and provide faster, more frequent and more reliable trains for decades to come.”