The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has paid a visit to Siemens Mobility facility in Goole, East Yorkshire. The visit to the facility was made in respect to viewing a mock up of the new upcoming Piccadilly line trains due in 2025.
Siemens mobility is in charge of building and supplying half of the 94 new tube trains to transport for London. The new trains will improve the frequency, reliability and capacity on the line apart from replacing the current 1970s fleet in operation.
Siemens mobility factory in Yorkshire will be building 50 percent of the new train fleet and will create 700 employment opportunities in engineering and manufacturing roles. Also on offer will be 250 jobs in construction and 1,700 in broader supply chain.
Siemens Mobility says TFL’s contract has been key catalyst for the company’s progress and their multi million pound investment in the facility in Goole. It has thus been responsible for creating thousands of jobs – a prime example of just how important investment in TFL is to jobs and the UK’s economy as a whole.
The new state of the art tube trains will significantly improve the Piccadilly line by boosting capacity by ten percent by being greener and more reliable. 95% of the train materials are reusable and the trains are also packed with features such as regenerative braking, cutting edge traction systems, LED lighting throughout and advanced energy management.
TFL has time limited options into tis contract with Siemens Mobility to build new tube trains for the Bakerloo, Central along with Waterloo and City line trains for the future. Sufficient funding could see these options get activated thus providing ongoing work k for this important Yorkshire manufacturing base and its supply chain. But the under managed decline as seen by TFL could see the new Bakerloo and Central line tube trains are pushed to late 2030/ early 2040’s.
The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said: “Visiting this Yorkshire factory and the state-of-the-art Piccadilly Line trains being built, it is clear how strong London’s relationships with our regional suppliers are – demonstrating just how vital skills and expertise around the country is to London’s success and how investment in TfL is vital to jobs and a UK wide recovery.
“Without sufficient capital investment in TfL, future contracts with regional suppliers are at risk. The best way to secure these highly skilled jobs into the future is for ministers to break the continuous cycle of short-term funding deals handed to TfL which only holds back London and the rest of the country from innovation, jobs and economic growth.
“When London succeeds, the country succeeds and vice versa. This week the Government has the opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to levelling up and deliver the capital funding TfL and its supply chain need – without it, both London and the wider country will be held back.”
Sambit Banerjee, Managing Director, Rolling Stock & Customer Services, Siemens Mobility Limited said: “We’re very proud to be building London’s newest tube trains right here in Yorkshire.
“The investment in the new Piccadilly line trains is helping us establish Goole as a centre of excellence for UK rail, creating up to 700 new jobs, including local apprentices and graduate trainees, and growing our large UK supply chain.
“We also want to build the next generation of Britain’s mainline trains here in Yorkshire, alongside new Bakerloo, Central and Waterloo & City line trains, subject to funding being confirmed.”