They have also told their bosses that Bombardier needs to include more British-made components when the company bids for new trains, instead of importing parts from other Bombardier factories abroad.

The Transport Secretary — who is also an East Midlands MP — paid an early-morning visit to the Litchurch Lane site on 27 February, following the Government’s controversial decision to award the £7.5 billion Intercity Express Programme contract to the consortium in which Hitachi is the major shareholder.

Later he met staff representatives.

Bob Rixham, National Officer for Railways for Unite, said: “Our main message was of the need for stability for the British railway industry.

“We told Geoff Hoon the Government needs to put in place a long-term procurement strategy to give the whole UK rail industry the ability to plan ahead.”

The Litchurch Lane factory is currently working at full capacity—but without further big orders there are doubts about how many workers will be needed there after 2010.

Believing that the Transport Secretary accepted the argument for a long-term strategy, Unite has also told Bombardier’s management that it should now cease to employ 300 agency staff and make them permanent, full-time employees.

The union is also seeking renegotiation of a decade-old ‘Flex Agreement,’ which Bob Rixham said was introduced at a time of peaks and troughs in repair work but “is now used and abused on a weekly basis.”

He aid the Unite officials had also told Bombardier that when tendering to build new trains the company should include more UK input—such as bogies, which are now made in Germany, and toilet modules.