{"id":45601,"date":"2014-07-24T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-07-24T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=57f7159d6547e22e13d760ebc3d1954e"},"modified":"2014-07-24T16:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-07-24T16:00:00","slug":"news-story-baroness-kramer-welcomes-start-of-production-on-thameslink-trains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=45601","title":{"rendered":"News story: Baroness Kramer welcomes start of production on Thameslink trains"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<p>Baroness Kramer visited Tyne and Wear today (24 July 2014) to hear how hundreds of manufacturing jobs will be created in the north-east as part of the government\u2019s \u00a36.5 billion Thameslink programme.<\/p>\n<p>Work is underway at the Siemens factory in Hebburn to manufacture high-tech electrical components for a fleet of state-of-the-art Thameslink trains, creating up to 300 local jobs. The spacious new trains will be introduced across London and the South East by 2018, transforming rail travel across the capital and providing faster, more reliable and more comfortable journeys for millions of passengers.<\/p>\n<p>Baroness Kramer said: <\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The start of production at Hebburn is great news for the region, as well as being a major milestone in the Thameslink project, which is generating more than 8,000 jobs nationwide and will transform travel through central London when it completes in 2018.<\/p>\n<p class=\"last-child\">The north-east is a real hub of rail industry expertise and through our investment in the Thameslink programme, we are helping to boost that industry, creating hundreds of local jobs, building skills for the future and securing the UK\u2019s long-term economic growth.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Over the next 4 years, Siemens will manufacture high-tech electrical parts and other components, including cable harnesses, drivers\u2019 instruments and control desks, for more than 1,100 new train carriages. The new electric trains will be faster and more energy-efficient, and will feature more space for passengers and luggage, improved access for people with reduced mobility, and advanced technology providing real-time travel updates to passengers. <\/p>\n<p>In addition to the new rolling stock, the Thameslink Programme will also see major track and station improvements \u2013 including the rebuilding of London Bridge \u2013 to provide passengers with better connections and a greater choice of destinations. When the project completes in 2018, 24 trains an hour will run in each direction at peak times through central London, providing a high-frequency, metro-style service to increasing numbers of passengers. <\/p>\n<p>The service will be operated by the <abbr title=\"Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern\">TSGN<\/abbr> franchisee GoVia, who were recently awarded the contract by the Department for Transport. It will provide 1,400 new electric carriages, increasing capacity by 50% and providing 10,000 extra seats every weekday into central London during the morning peak. <\/p>\n<p>Over the next five years, \u00a338 billionn will be invested in maintaining and improving the UK\u2019s rail network in the biggest programme of modernisation since the Victorian era.<\/p>\n<div class=\"contact\" id=\"contact_1019\">\n<div class=\"content\">\n<h3>Rail media enquiries<\/h3>\n<div class=\"vcard contact-inner\">\n<div class=\"email-url-number\">\n<p class=\"tel\">\n              <span class=\"type\">Press enquiries<\/span><br \/>\n              020 7944 4671\n            <\/p>\n<p class=\"tel\">\n              <span class=\"type\">Out of hours<\/span><br \/>\n              020 7944 4292\n            <\/p>\n<p class=\"tel\">\n              <span class=\"type\">Public enquiries<\/span><br \/>\n              0300 330 3000\n            <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Up to 300 jobs created in component manufacturing in the north-east.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45601"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45601"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45601\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45626,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45601\/revisions\/45626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}