Siemens Mobility’s new £200 million Goole factory will start manufacturing trains for the UK market from April 2024, creating thousands of new jobs, both directly and across the wider supply chain.
For the Invest East Yorkshire team, which first began liaising with Siemens Mobility about the possibility of its new factory coming to Goole back in 2016, it’s a major milestone that represents the culmination of eight years of work.
The team’s relationship with Siemens Mobility first began when the UK Government’s Department for Business and Trade (or UK Trade and Investment as it was then known) made it aware of the company’s nationwide search for a suitable location for its new train manufacturing site.
Stephen Silvester, Inward Investment and Infrastructure Manager for Invest East Yorkshire, recalls: “Siemens were looking for a 50-acre plus site, with direct rail connection and room for expansion, as well as good workforce availability and local support. The enquiry went out via the usual Government channels to all local enterprise partnerships and devolved administrations across the country so that local authorities and other relevant stakeholders could respond with suggestions about suitable sites.”
After collating the responses, Siemens Mobility drew up a shortlist of potential sites, two of which were in the East Riding of Yorkshire.
Stephen and his colleagues then held a series of meetings and discussions with senior staff at Siemens Mobility to answer any questions they had and promote the East Riding of Yorkshire as the ideal location for their investment.
The Invest East Yorkshire team offered a compelling and wide-ranging package of support, which convinced Siemens that Goole was the best location for their future plans. At the very core of the proposition was a fully serviced site on the Goole 36 Enterprise Zone, which the team had worked with land owner Homes England to open up for investment. This involved the development of the £13 million Tom Pudding Way link road, which was supported by an £8.3 million European Regional Development Fund grant and delivered in partnership with Homes England.
Stephen explained: “We had a big hand in the selection of Goole for the manufacturing site, with Siemens considering places around the UK. After we’d presented them with a bespoke package of support, covering everything from planning guidance and labour market development to supply chain linkages and the opportunity to scale up their initial investment, the decision was made. Goole it was!”
Finbarr Dowling, Siemens Mobility’s Director of Localisation, explained the key role that the Invest East Yorkshire team played in bringing the company to Goole:
“We had also worked with the Invest East Yorkshire team in relation to our investment in offshore wind in the area, so had confidence the team could deliver what we needed.”
Mid-way through 2017, Goole was officially announced as the preferred location for Siemens Mobility’s new factory and the project moved into the next phase of development, with the Invest East Yorkshire team providing support every step of the way to achieve its goal of bringing Siemens Mobility to the Goole 36 site. Planning permission for the factory was approved in 2019 and this helped Siemens Mobility to secure a £1.5 billion contract to manufacture new underground trains for Transport for London.
Since then, the £9 million development of the RaisE (Rail Accelerator & Innovation Solutions hub for Enterprise) Business Centre close to the new factory site has supported supply chain development and provided Siemens Mobility with office accommodation in close proximity to the factory.
When it becomes fully operational, the new manufacturing site will create 700 new jobs, as well as a further 1,700 in the wider supply chain. Meanwhile, Siemens Mobility continues to invest in Goole, with a new components factory and logistics operation. It also has plans in the pipeline to expand its components business and, potentially, add a test track. These additional investments will create several hundred more new jobs.
