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EDITOR’S COMMENT
Editorial Editor
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his edition of Rail Technology Magazine was going to press as Derby’s rail industry prepared to make its case to Parliament’s Transport
Select Committee,
which has taken an interest in the procurement process that led to Germany’s Siemens beating Bom- bardier’s British operations in the battle to build Thameslink’s trains.
Some people will be speaking and giving evidence to the committee of MPs; some are going down to London in a campaigning capacity and to keep the issue prominent in the national media, and others are keen to show their anger and frus- tration with the Government.
The committee has, for its part, been as clear as the Government that this evidence-gathering and investigative process cannot change history: despite the best ef- forts and highest hopes of many in Derby, and in UK manufacturing more widely, the chances of min- isters tearing up the rulebook and re-opening the procurement pro- cess are slim-to-none. Their hands are tied – conveniently so, some protestors say,
considering the
evidence that a review could have been possible at an earlier stage.
Instead, the committee is seeking to find out what happened, and to influence the future.
The Government is mindful of the potential for this all to get much worse if an overseas-based company wins the contract to build Crossrail’s 60 trains too – especially Siemens, which will have an undoubted competitive advantage after having won the Thameslink process, with its broadly similar rolling stock.
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The process has been delayed, with one of the stated reasons being to allow Crossrail and the Government to take into account a review of procurement policy in the wake of the Thameslink con- troversy. Hints have been dropped that there might be wriggle room, while remaining within European procurement law, for the Govern- ment to quietly take more notice of domestic concerns. But it is tough to see just how much of a ‘helping
hand’ the Government could give Bombardier and Derby against the likes of Siemens, CAF, and Hitachi.
Siemens’ Steve Scrimshaw has been fairly clear that should the company win Crossrail too, the outcome would be similar – some British manufacturing and compo- nents jobs created or safeguarded, but the bulk of the main works done in Germany.
This could be another political headache for the Government, with the £1bn rolling stock and depot contract likely now to be awarded in 2014, with an election likely the following May.
For now, attention remains on Thameslink, with neither Siemens’ own 168-year presence in the UK, nor its commitment to create thou- sands of jobs here, having much impact on the public mood.
The polls suggest that the decision is likely to cost the Conservatives, at the very least, their South Der- byshire seat, narrowly taken by Heather Wheeler at the last elec- tion. Surveys on the ground sug- gest a big shift in opinion away from her and towards Labour since then, with the Conservatives’ pro- gress in the two Derby city con- stituencies also apparently wiped out. More widely, the decision has contributed to a wider public un- ease over UK manufacturing and the apparent lack of concern from on high about these important jobs. As RTM pointed out in its last edition, some of this is based on faulty statistics: there are still 2.6 million British people involved in manufacturing, creating 11% of this country’s GDP – more than fi- nancial services.
The problem for the Government is that direct intervention is not only illegal, it also threatens to un- dermine the real efficiencies that such competitive processes create. Some of this is over-stated, but some is surely real. There are many people in Derby, and elsewhere, who just hope that Bombardier still has it in it to compete and win.
Adam Hewitt Editor
rail technology magazine Aug/Sep 11 | 3
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