Construction of the £200m plant could start later this year and the factory could employ up to 700 people when it is fully operational, while creating a further 1700 jobs through the British supply chain. The site would have up to 12km of track and buildings covering 271,000m3.
“We’ve said for some time that future success for Siemens in the rail industry would see us opening a rail manufacturing plant here and this announcement provides additional substance to those words,” says Mr Jürgen Maier, chief executive of Siemens UK. “Having considered multiple locations in the UK, I’m delighted to confirm that we’ve identified a site in Goole for our new UK rail factory which not only has the potential scale we need for a facility of this size but also ready access to the skilled people we’d need to build and operate the factory.”
“This is a fantastic announcement which fully supports Transport for the North’s aims of improving the northern economy and bolstering the advanced manufacturing sector in Goole and the north as a whole,” says Mr John Cridland, chair of Transport for the North. “This new factory will have the potential to compete to provide the trains required to help fulfil Transport for the North’s strategic transport plan and deliver transformational economic growth in the north.”
