Bombardier bags £1bn Crossrail deal
Plane and train manufacturer Bombardier has won a £1bn contract to provide trains for Crossrail, the Department for Transport and Transport for London has announced today.
The Canadian company will provide 65 trains for the service, which is set to open in 2018.
The vehicles will be manufactured and assembled at the company’s plant in Derby, providing 760 manufacturing jobs and 80 apprenticeships, plus over 250 jobs at Crossrail’s Old Oak Common depot in West London.
Bombardier beat Japan’s Hitachi and Spain’s CAF to secure the contract. The win comes as a lift to the manufacturer, which has failed to get other big government rail contracts recently.
The government said around 74 per cent of the cost of the contract would stay in the UK economy.
Mayor of London Boris Johnson commented:
The Crossrail project is now rolling on full-steam ahead. The manufacture of these new trains will not only revolutionise rail travel in London, they will deliver jobs and economic growth in their birthplace in Derby and across the UK.
With a firm on board to deliver a fleet of 21st century trains and the tunnelling more than halfway complete, we’re on track to deliver a truly world-class railway for the capital.
Crossrail is set to boost London’s rail-based capacity by 10 per cent, generating in the region of 75,000 business opportunities and 55,000 full-time jobs across the UK.