The boss of Goole train maker Siemens Mobility has warned his company is not getting the opportunity to tender competitively for rolling stock projects.
Sambit Banerjee, joint chief executive of the firm, told MPs that gaps in procurement of new trains presented challenges for the manufacturer, which last year invested £200m into a new Goole facility. The site is currently building rolling stock for the London Underground to replace an ageing fleet on the Piccadilly Line.
Giving evidence at a hearing of the Transport Committee's investigation into boom and bust within the rail investment pipelines, Mr Banerjee said that without winning one of three tender opportunities currently on the table, the business faced a steep drop.
He said: "We have, at Siemens, invested £340m in the º£½ÇÊÓƵ in the last five years. £240m in Goole, to set up a manufacturing facility and £100m in Chippenham, in our railway infrastructure business, to set up a state-of-the-art, modern research and development and manufacturing unit. At present, we are manufacturing Piccadilly Line trains in Goole, which will finish, as per the current schedule, around May of 2027.
"After that, if we do not win any of these projects that we're bidding for competitively, or the Bakerloo Line extension is not done, then there is of course a steep drop there. In Goole, we have created employment for 700 and in the supply chain, 1,700. It's not only about Siemens, it's also the ecosystem that we're working with.
"It's also about people in Goole, in Doncaster, in Sheffield and in Scunthorpe, because our employees are coming from that catchment area. We are very, very mindful that we effect a lot of people in the bigger catchment area of Goole as well."
A national Rolling Stock Strategy is currently in the works, and the setting up of Great British Railways is set to bring about the nationalisation of most of the º£½ÇÊÓƵ's rail infrastructure. Mr Banerjee called on the Government to ramp up procurement.
He said: "We see now an immediate necessity to push ahead through the new rolling stock procurement. And our request, to DfT has always been, let's stick to the timelines. Because, as I said, we're putting in money much before the contract is signed
"When I go to Munich I’m fighting with emerging economies and with the US, who are also asking for research and development money. Our shareholders are very kind to us to give us £340m there has to then be projects coming to fruition. And we want to win competitively, we do not want to have a sense of entitlement in any shape or form, but we're not getting that opportunity."
Mr Banerjee, who joined a representative from Derby-based rival Alstom, added: "Goole is not only a train manufacturing facility, it is a rail village. We have a components facility where we service all the components. We are moving our bogey facility from Lincoln - which is a single line - to make it a double line facility, with a further £40m investment in Goole. And then we have our logistics hub in Goole and also the digital operations centre.
“It is very, very important that the core of our capability are maintained and they’re given opportunities to maintain the peaks and troughs so that we can maintain the workforce. And then we have depots, all across the country where we can redeploy people.
“I think we would like to work positively for growth, and expect that working together, new orders come in and one of us will win competitively to keep that whole ecosystem running."
