Japanese trains for British workers

Hitachi has won a £7.5 billion contract to manufacture new trains for Britain's railways. They will probably be very nice trains, maybe even like the bullet trains, Japan's anti-lateness machines, but the news isn't helpful, just now, given that Bombadier, the last train factory in Britain, has only sufficient work for a year or so.

Lord Adonis, the transport minister, tried hard to spin all this yesterday by insisting that 12,500 jobs would be created or safeguarded. Under questioning, he admitted that that figure was reached by assuming that for each job created by the project itself, four others would be created in supply and service companies. Quite an assumption.

Hitachi will ship the major components to Britain for assembly at a plant to be built in Leicestershire, Sheffield or Gateshead and there will be five new depots to service the trains, replacing those that have been changing the oil on the 30-year-old InterCity 125 fleet. Hitachi has said that 500 workers at most will be employed at the assembly plant, and the figures for job creation at the depots are not known.

Not a great day for metal bashing, but possibly a great day, or the promise of one, for commuters. It's called the free market and tendering. Get used to it.