The Secretary of State for Transport (Mr Patrick McLoughlin)
I would like to inform the House of the intention to award Crossrail’s rolling stock and associated depot facilities contract to Bombardier. In line with European procurement rules, the contract is now subject to a 10-day standstill period. Until this period is over, the contract award cannot be confirmed and Bombardier is unable to release information related to its bid.
The contract, which includes the supply, delivery and maintenance of 65 new trains and a depot at Old Oak Common for up to 32 years, has a capital value of around £1 billion. The contract will be between the successful bidder and Transport for London who will operate Crossrail as part of their services.
Together with the Mayor of London, my co-sponsor on the Crossrail project, I welcome this major milestone which Crossrail Ltd has reached ahead of schedule, ensuring the first trains are delivered by 2017 ahead of services commencing through the new central tunnels in late 2018.
Hon. Members will recall that the invitation to negotiate required bidders to meet a set of “responsible procurement” requirements on how they would engage with the wider supply chain and provide opportunities for training, apprenticeships, and small and medium-sized businesses within their procurement strategy.
Alongside this, bidders were asked to set out an estimate of the value of the contract that will be spent in the UK. While this was not an assessment criterion in the decision process, the successful bidder will be required to report against it following contract award.
Today, on the basis of that information, I can confirm that an estimated 74% of contract spend will remain in the UK economy as a result of this announcement.
Bombardier has confirmed that the new trains will be manufactured and assembled at their plant in Derby. This contract will support 760 UK manufacturing jobs plus 80 apprenticeships adding to the 55,000 jobs which will be supported by the Crossrail project over its lifetime.
The construction of the maintenance depot at Old Oak Common will see 244 jobs, plus16 apprenticeships and when fully operational will employ 80 people to maintain to the new fleet of trains.