Over 50,000 people have signed a petition calling for the government to rethink their decision to give the £1.4bn Thameslink contract to Germany’s Siemens.
Bombardier’s Derby facility has said it will have to cut over 1,400 jobs as a result of the decision and a lack of continuing orders.
The petition was handed to the House of Commons yesterday by Labour Derby North MP Chris Williamson.
The government has ruled out a U-turn on the decision due to EU laws but said EU regulations will be looked at to see if any changes could be made for future contracts.
A rally has been organised in Derby this weekend to support Bombardier and ‘help keep UK rail manufacturing on track’.
On Saturday 23 July at 10am, thousands are thought to be joining the rally where speakers include Unite’s Assistant General Secretary, Diana Holland.
The protest in Derby is being led by four unions – RMT, UNITE, TSSA and GMB – who are calling for a rethink over the government’s decision to have 1,200 vehicles for the Thameslink Programme built in Germany.
Unfortunately, petitions rarely have any effect whatsoever on government decisions. Siemens won the contract fair and square because they obviously offered both a better deal and far superior engineered trains than the men at Derby. Phillip Hammond is not going to change his mind, as the cancellation costs incurred and a further lengthy delay in ordering and delivering new trains for Thameslink would prove impossible to justify. The only hope for Bombardier’s Derby factory is for an early announcement on electric trains for Crossrail and new diesel units for Northern and East Midlands, to replace the awful Pacers and Class 150 Sprinters. Â
Siemens won the deal because they have a far better credit rating than Bombardier. Unfortunately it has very little to do with engineering or quality. If it did, and if ministers, civil servants and Mike B knew anything about rolling stock, they might have realised that previous Siemens offerings are some of the heaviest and most track-damaging trains that have ever run in the UK. By contrast, Bombardier’s lightweight vehicles, equipped with service-proven lightweight bogies, are some of the track-friendliest trains on the network.Â
I have raised an e-petition for Bristish Contracts to be awarded to British Companies
please get your members to sign as we need 100,000 signatures for it to be brought to the
House of Commons.
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/2125