Top rail engineering man calls for High Speed Rail College to come to Doncaster

The boss of a major supplier to British railways has told the Government it has a chance to address some of the skills challenge in the North by locating a High Speed Rail College in Yorkshire.

George Tillier, the managing director of Unipart Rail Europe and chair of the private sector led Centre for Rail Engineering and Technical Expertise (CREATE) bid, urged the Government to choose Doncaster as the location for the proposed Rail College.

Doncaster faces competition from Birmingham, Derby and Manchester for the £20 million research and training centre.

George said: “This is the Government’s chance to make a substantial commitment in the North East akin to which has already been seen in other areas of the country.

“Locating the college in Yorkshire will go a long way to addressing the skills needs of business in the North, whilst both regenerating and rebalancing the regional economy.

“With the strong support from both the private sector and local government, ranging from Scotland to Stevenage, no other bid has the support or can deliver the return on Investment that the Yorkshire bid can.”

So far over 100 businesses have signed up to support the bid which is believed to have the most private sector support of any of the shortlisted locations.

Recently the bid attracted wide ranging support from prominent businesses like SIG Insulation, Arnold Laver, RJ Stokes, Ron Hull, Naylor Industries and Nabarro as well as backing from leading companies within the rail sector such as Wabtec Rail, Volker Rail and DB Schenker.

Ros Jones, Mayor of Doncaster, said: “The strength of support for the High Speed Rail College in Doncaster is astonishing. We have done all we can to convince the Government that Yorkshire is the right place.

“It’s now up to the Government to support the North as they have been saying they would.”

CREATE’s bid has been coordinated by Doncaster Council and supported by Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership.

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