A SPECIAL TRAIN is to carry protestors from Derby to London on 7 September for a mass lobby as MPs inquire into the Government’s decision to select Siemens as preferred bidder for 1,200 new Thameslink carriages against Bombardier Transportation.

Another protest rally is planned on 14 September during the annual Trades Union Congress in London, and further demonstrations — organised by Derbyshire business leaders and politicians, Bombardier staff and trade unions — are expected at the Liberal Democrat and Conservative party conferences in the next two months.

Chris Williamson, Labour MP for Derby North, told an emergency conference at Derby College on ‘Safeguarding Derby’s rail future’ that he remained optimistic the decision to make Siemens preferred bidder could still be overturned. “This is a U-turn the Government absolutely needs to make,” he said.

But while the conference was taking place a consultation meeting was already underway at the nearby Litchurch Lane factory between trade union representatives and Bombardier managers to consider proposals to make over 1,400 staff redundant — including more than 400 permanent engineering and design staff who would be retained if the company won the Thameslink order.

“Our aim was to make Derby our world centre for aluminium train bodies,” Bombardier Transportation UK’s chairman Colin Walton told the conference. “But it is really difficult to do that if we don’t have a home market in the UK.”

The decision not to select Bombardier to build the Thameslink trains “has united all political parties in Derby and Derbyshire,” said MP Chris Williamson.

But there was a real problem with getting to Government Ministers to discuss the decision and its consequences. “We are filtered out by the officials in Whitehall,” he said.

The conference — including councillors, representatives of the business community and the rail industry supply chain, as well as trade union officials — was told that, despite eight letters from Derby City Council to the Government, they had received no reply from Prime Minister David Cameron about their demand for a meeting.

Chris Williamson said: “There is a Pretorian guard of awful civil servants around the Prime Minister.”

The MP, who has already tabled an Early Day Motion criticising the decision to choose Siemens, said he was going to write to all Conservative and Lib-Dem MPs “so that they can understand awarding the contract to Bombardier is not just about Derby but in the interests of the UK economy — and it can be done without breaking any legal rules."

He added: “It is bonkers, with a growing market in this country for rail, to throw away our remaining train manufacturing capability.”

The emergency conference was also attended by Patrick McLoughlin — not only MP for Derbyshire Dales, but also the Conservatives’ Chief Whip in Parliament — who said he as very sorry that Bombardier had not been selected.

However, he encountered several hecklers from the business community when he said: “But there is no easy way to re-open it all,” adding that Siemens, like Bombardier Transportation, also employed over 10000 people in the UK.

He was told by Rachel Hayward, of Community Enterprise Derby, that there were grounds for a mandatory exclusion of Siemens because the company had been guilty of bribery.

Steve Midgeley, of house builder Fairgrove Homes, said the taxpayer had not got value for money if the cost of the social consequences of not awarding the contract to Bombardier had not been taken into account.

He added the situation would be made worse because “the domino effect” of the decision meant a subsequent order to supply trains for Crossrail would also go to Siemens.

Richard Williams, Derby City Council’s Director of Regeneration, said the city’s policy was to continue to lobby for the Thameslink contract to be awarded to Bombardier, which remains the reserve bidder.

A survey by the Derby & Derbyshire Rail Foruum had shown that half of all respondents do some work from Bombardier, and half of these rely solely on Bonbardier for their survival. “On the basis of this survey, we are looking at 8 – 10,000 redundancies if the work doesn’t go to Bombardier,” he warned.

And he added: “Our priority is to get a meeting with the Primer Minister. Only he can cut across Government departments, such as Transport and Business, Innovation and Skills.”

• On 7 September the House Commons Transport Committee is to take evidence on UK rolling stock procurement. Witnesses will include Bombardier; Siemens; academics who say that Siemens should not have qualified; the European Commission; the Railway Industry Association and both the Department for Transport and the Department Business, Innovation and Skills,

•• The special train on 7 September, which will leave Derby at 05.52, is being provided in a joint venture involving East Midlands Trains, the Derby & Derbyshire Rail Forum, the Derby Telegraph and Derby City Council.

The primary purpose is to attend the Transport Select Committee at 09.35 and to watch Prime Minister’s Questions when it is hoped that Margaret Beckett [MP for Derby South] will be able to ask a question on the supply chain implications of the recent Thameslink decision,” said Debbie Cook, the Rail Forum’s Co-ordinator. There will be demonstration march past the Houses of Parliament, while Derby’s civic leaders will protest from a boat sailing past on the Thames.

The special train will return from London at 15.45.

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