Siemens will invest £100m in a new manufacturing centre to replace its Chippenham rail signalling factory in Wiltshire.
The German technology company announced on Monday it would build a facility on the site of the existing Chippenham factory, which has been designing and manufacturing signalling and control systems for railways since the 19th century.
The Chippenham project is expected to open in 2026 and will be Siemens’ second big investment in a UK manufacturing site in recent years, after it invested £200m in a new train factory in Goole, east Yorkshire, which will open this year.
Siemens said the 800 staff who work on the site will be transferred over to the new facility with no impact on production.
The site, established in 1897 by signalling contractor Evans O’Donnell, was bought by Westinghouse Brake and Signal Company in 1900 and has produced systems and equipment for the UK and overseas railways ever since.
Siemens bought the site in 2013 and continued to design and produce railway systems there, including those used on the Elizabeth line that passes through London.
It is now providing digital signalling equipment to modernise the east coast mainline from London to Edinburgh.
Rob Morris, the joint CEO of Siemens Mobility UK and Ireland, said: “This investment is a strong commitment to Chippenham and our country.
“Siemens Mobility’s Chippenham site, along with our 30 sites across the country, has been transforming rail, travel and transport in Britain – and it will continue to do so with cloud-based rail technology connecting the real and the digital worlds, digitalising rail.”
The government said on Sunday it would invest £360m in several manufacturing and research projects in sectors where the UK is, or could be, world-leading.
This includes £200m for aerospace research and development schemes aimed at developing zero-carbon aircraft technology, while £120m is being spent on supporting low-carbon manufacturing through the government’s green industries growth accelerator.
The latest investment follows the publication of the government’s 47-page advanced manufacturing plan last November, which sets out its long-term proposals for increasing manufacturing output. It is backed by £4.5bn in funding over the next five years, which was announced at the autumn statement.
Hunt said: “We’re sticking with our plan by backing the industries of the future with millions of pounds of investment to make the UK a world leader in manufacturing, securing the highly skilled jobs of the future and delivering the long-term change our country needs to deliver a brighter future for Britain.”
However, Labour’s shadow business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, criticised the government’s latest funding announcements, saying it was “incapable of providing the long-term stability manufacturing needs to thrive”.
He added: “Recycled announcements won’t be enough to turn around the lowest business investment in the G7.”
