Siemens wins $230 million British contract

Siemens has won a $230-million contract to supply electric trains for use on British railways, the latest British train contract awarded to the German industrial group. The deal will see Siemens supply 20 Desiro UK trains to Go-Ahead Group’s London Midland and First Group’s TransPennine Express regional route franchises. The trains, which will be delivered in 2013 and 2014, will be maintained at Siemens’s depot in Manchester, north England, the company said. Last year a Siemens-led consortium won a $2.2 billion contract to build and maintain 1,200 carriages for the Thameslink cross-London railway. As a result, Canada’s Bombardier, which lost out on the contract, said it would cut more than 1,400 jobs at its plant in Derby, central England, triggering union outrage. Go-Ahead, which will receive 10 new trains in mid-2014, said the new units would go towards coping with continuing passenger growth on services into and out of London and Birmingham. “Through the Department for Transport’s funding, seven of the new trains are earmarked for London commuter services providing 4,474 extra seats each weekday,” Go-Ahead said.