Rail jobs, staff issues and training

Siemens submits plans to build £200m train manufacturing site in East Yorkshire

Planning applications for a £200m rail manufacturing site in Goole, East Yorkshire have been submitted by Siemens.

The ‘train factory’, first revealed early last year, will build state-of-the-art trains for the Piccadilly Line, and will create up to 700 jobs and a further 1,700 jobs across the supply chain.

An outline planning application for a 104-acre site at Goole 36, close to junction 36 on the M62 motorway, has been submitted to East Riding of Yorkshire Council.

This includes 80,000 sqm of manufacturing and commissioning warehouse buildings and stabling sidings, as well as a four-story 5,000 sqm office building.

Siemens Mobility called it a major milestone in the creation of the industry-leading facility which will be constructed and open in phases; with the first phase opening in 2023 and the site fully operational by 2025.

Will Wilson, rolling stock managing director at Siemens Mobility, said: “This is a major step forward for our plans.

“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.

“It’s the result of positive dialogue with the local authority, statutory bodies and other stakeholders, including community representatives.”

Siemens’s UK rolling stock engineering and commissioning team will also be based at the Goole site, as will the company’s Digital Operations Centre which will collect and analyse train-borne data for operators.

Unveiled by Siemens in March 2018, the plans gained a large boost in November after the company signed a £1.5bn contract with London Underground to design and build a new generation of trains for the Piccadilly line.

Local MP Andrew Percy said it was “an important step forward,” but added that Siemens are now “considering even more ambitious plans for Goole” with a new “rail village” with a five-mile testing track and another 150 to 200 jobs.