DERBY City football club – which counts among its season ticket holders Geoff Hoon, the Transport Secretary who last week announced a £7.5 billion inter-city express train contract going to the Japanese manufacturer Hitachi — has joined the growing clamour to get the contract switched to the consortium that includes Derby-based Bombardier Transportation.

The Government is now being challenged to ‘change track’ on its decision to give the contract for 1,400 new carriages to Agility rains — which comprises Hitachi, John Laing and Barclays — and switch the order to the Express Rail Alliance, which comprises Bombardier along with Siemens, Angel Trains and Babcock & Brown.

The ‘change track’ campaign has been launched by local newspaper, the Derby Evening Telegraph, and has gained support of trade unions, all the main political parties on Derby City Council, and from East Midlands industry, including with the regional rail industry.

The Derby Evening Telegraph’s deputy editor Neil White said: “We believe the Government has made a serious mistake in selecting a Japanese-led consortium ahead of Derby train-maker Bombardier as the preferred bidder for the £7.5bn contract to build new Intercity trains.

“One of the main planks of the successful bid was that it would create or safeguard 12,500 jobs in this country.

“So far, nobody, from Government or the [Agility] consortium, has been able to tell us where those jobs are or will be.

“Thus, we owe it to the 12,000 workers who depend on Bombardier for their jobs to try to get the Department for Transport to change its mind.

Derby City Council’s Lib-Dem leader Hilary Jones said she would be backing Bombardier and looking at ways in which the authority could help. “There are some big questions about why Bombardier missed out when it is a leading train-maker.”

Chris Williamson, leader of the Derby’s Labour group, said: “Bombardier is Britain’s last train manufacturer and provides a significant amount of employment directly and indirectly in the supply chain.”

Conservative group leader Philip Hickson also backed the campaign. “I was absolutely astonished when the selection was announced,” he said. “I was just stunned – it’s a total slap in the face for Derby workers.”

George Cowcher, chief executive of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Chamber of Commerce, which represents more than 4,000 businesses, has also backed the campaign. “The chamber will be doing all it can to highlight how important it is that the Government supports Bombardier,” he said.

The Derby and Derbyshire Rail Forum, representing railway companies and suppliers in Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and East Staffordshire, said it was “astounded and dismayed to hear the Department for Transport had let the largest ever train building contract in the UK to a consortium led by the Japanese firm Hitachi.

“The news is a bitter blow to Derby-based Bombardier, the only current train builder in the UK, who were part of the opposing Express Rail Alliance consortium.”

Peter Roberts, the Forum’s Vice-Chairman, said: “This is terrible news for the East Midlands as a centre for rail excellence and the whole supply chain involved with Bombardier in Derby.

“We are struggling to understand the logic behind this decision at a time when the UK is suffering the effects of a global recession and experiencing the highest level of unemployment in over a decade. The Derby and Derbyshire Rail Forum urges Geoff Hoon and the Department for Transport to reverse this decision and safeguard the skills available in the Derbyshire region.

“The situation is similar to the recent dispute in the energy sector with workers demanding that British jobs are given to British workers. Without the support of central Government the entire manufacturing industry, not just in rail, is at serious risk of catastrophic collapse. The Government must act swiftly and decisively in order to safeguard the future of this great country and its people.”

Three trade unions — the RMT, the Transport Salaried Staff Association, and Unite — are also fighting the decision to award the contract for the new trains, which will operate on the Great Western and East Coast main lines, to the consortium including Hitachi. 

The unions are also challenging the Government’s claims that the contract will safeguard 12,500 jobs, including 500 that would be created by setting up an assembly plant in Ashby-de-la-Zouch (Leics), Sheffield or Gateshead.

Now Derby County FC — The Rams — has joined the campaign. The club’s chief executive and president, Tom Glick, said he was fully behind the campaign caling on the Department for Transport to award the £7.5bn Intercity Express contract to the consortium including Bombardier, which employs over 2,200 people at its Litchurch Lane factory.

Before the start of the current football season, Bombardier signed a one-year deal to sponsor Derby County’s kit, with a view to developing a long-term relationship with the club.

Mr Glick said that Bombardier was not only important to the club, but also to the city, which was why he was backing the ‘change track’ campaign.

He said: “Winning these contracts is not just good for Bombardier, it is good for Derby’s economy as a whole.

“I was very disappointed to learn that Bombardier had not been named as the preferred bidder for this massive contract. It would make a big difference to the company and the many suppliers who rely on Bombardier’s success.

“It is my understanding that this contract would not only secure jobs, but create new ones.

“And it would secure jobs now, at a time when the UK economy really needs them.”

One Derby Evening Telegraph reader commented today: “Geoff Hoon has been part of this decision making process. He is a Derby season ticket holder and lives in Breaston, lets get on to him and see what he has to say!”

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