Reader Comments:

Views expressed in submitted comments are that of the author, and not necessarily shared by Railnews.

• Chris B, Solihull, UK

  Buying trains from North America and Europe is not a new thing and has been going on for decades. Presumably because the British product is not up to scratch. Remember the UK attempt to produce to design and build a tilting train - we eventually bought the Pendalinos from Italy I think. The EWS freight locos were bought from the US because they were twice as powerful as what we could produce.
  Perhaps we delude ourselves that what we produce in UK is good but the world has overtaken us, sorry to say, and we are merely an also ran. This is why UK industries employ foreign skilled labour and we import cars from Japan. The UK population and labour force is also middle aged. We also think we can win the world cup and have to employ a foreign manager, jobs are outsourced to India etc.
  
  

• Robert, Edinburgh

  If the government only awarded contracts to British companies then there would be no reason for British companies to better their products compared to European rivals. Competition (carrot and stick mentality) is there for a reason otherwise we'd be pulled along by steam engines to this day. The technology we enjoy today is driven by competition (or war) and if companies fail to invest enough in their technology or workforce then they will fail. This is basic economics and Bombardier were either complacent or don’t have spare cash to invest.
  
  How do you think we arrived with the technology today compared to 1970? World competition!!!! It's basic economics.
  

• Jim biscoe, Dartford, England

  Unbelievable if we don\'t buy British
  What does that say to the rest of the
  World about our products. This is the last
  Straw. If this work goes abroad I will never
  Vote conservative again. I have never felt as
  Strong. This is the beginning of the end
  for manufacturing. In the uk. WAKE UP

• Nige, York, UK

  BREL THEN ABB THEN ADTRANZ & NOW BOMBARDIER SOLD OUT !!
  All these skilled workers will never be replaced that have suffered the lack of continious investment in rolling stock by Governments that have not got a clue.
  
  Same happened to the Highly Skilled York Works & Doncaster/Eastleigh.
  
  So why is there such overcrowding on our railways that both bids cannot be given work !!
  
  You have to invest in people in this Country to sustain our once proud Nation.
  
  
  
  

• George, Luton

  It's all well and good wishing that British trains are built and maintained in Britain, but when a company from another company offers a much superior product, how can it turned down?
  
  It is a fantastic decision for Thameslink passengers such as myself.
  
  Therefore, British train manufacturers such as Bombardier need to up their game and offer a much better service and better products if they are going to compete in the world. That is what the problem is, not the government disregarding the economy on a local/national scale.

• Chris Reynell, Longstock, Hampshire.

  Superior product?
  
  Have you travelled on a recently built Electrostar or Turbostar trains - (comfortable seats, plenty of tables, smooth engine and quiet air conditioning)?
  
  Or are hard seats and noisy cabin interior acceptable?
  
  Whilst German engineering is to be applauded; pity that the government finds it hard to promote home grown expertise and jobs.
  

• Claydon William, Norwich, Norfolk

  Whether you like travelling to work on Bombardier or Siemens trains is all rather irrelevent if you don;t have a job to travel to.
  
  Thousands of rail workers in the greater East Midlands will not not be commuting to work at all.
  
  
  
  
  

• Lorentz, London

  Probably the right decision; Siemens offers a superior product.

• Allan, Derby, UK

  The Government claim that this gives value for money for the tax payer but if they factor in the cost of making people redundant and the social cost of unemployment then this cannot be a good deal. The rail industry in Derby will have the heart torn out of it and any recovery of the economy based on increasing manufacturing output will be seriously damaged.

• Claydon William, Norwich, Norfolk

  Another shocking decision on procurement, following the Hitachi decision on IEP, that will cost us thousands of UK manufacturing jobs, and the engineering expertise that follows.
  
  The Italians build their trains in Italy, the Spanish in Spain, the Germans in.........errrrr, Germany.
  
  We get our trains built in Germany, because we anally adhere to EU rules on competetive tendering and open trade. I don't ever recall seeing invitations to tender for train building from the Japanese Government in the 'European Journal'.
  
  It would have been really refreshing to see our government stick up for our own British Industry and have awarded this contract to the British manufacturing sector.
  
  
  

• Chris Reynell, Longstock, Hampshire.

  Could someone explain how importing something (money goes abroad) is better for the taxpayer than supporting UK manufacturing (money and engineering skills remain in this country)?
  
  Remember when BR Engineering, Brush, GEC and Metro-Cammel were serious exporters?
  
  Bad decision for UK taxpayers!
  

• Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex, England

  We should have insisted the trains be built in Britain that way we could have re-built our train building industies back up.
  
  We have seen by the banking crises the danger of not having a manufacturing base so even if Siemens was chosen the trains should be built here with the long trm advantage of building competition in our domestic market.

• Paul, London, England

  Having used both Siemens units on South West Trains & London Midland and Bombardiers on Southeastern and Southern, I can definitely vouch that the build quality, reliability and maintenance of the former is far superior to that of the latter. It's a good decision for passengers.

• Dene Tydeman, Andover, Hampshire

  So much for the government's promise to help UK manufacturing. A terrible decision for UK manufacturing that will impact the UK Rolling stock market for years to come.

• Rob, Nottingham, UK

  Siemens will design these trains in Germany. Why does the government continue to support the economies of other counties rather than or own?