Transport for London (TfL) confirmed on Friday its intention to award Siemens Mobility Limited a contract of around £1.5 billion to design and build 94 new generation Tube trains for the Piccadilly line.

The contract will mean a multi-million pound investment in a factory in Goole, East Yorkshire, and create thousands of UK jobs.

“As announced earlier this year, the award of this contract is a significant step allowing Siemens Mobility Limited to progress its plan to build a new factory in Goole, East Yorkshire, to manufacture and commission trains,” said TfL.

“The Siemens Mobility factory would employ up to 700 people in skilled engineering and manufacturing roles, plus up to an additional 250 people during the construction phase of the factory.

“As a result, around 1,700 indirect jobs would be created throughout the UK supply chain.

“After completion, TfL will work with Siemens Mobility Limited to maximise the number of Piccadilly line trains being built in this facility …

“While this order is for an initial 94 trains, the contract will be awarded on the expectation of a single manufacturer building the trains for all four Deep Tube lines.

“Creating a single train design will allow TfL to maximise cost savings through greater standardisation of train operations, staff training, equipment, spares and maintenance.”

Sabrina Soussan, CEO Siemens Mobility, said: “We are thrilled by today’s announcement.

“Our metro trains travel the equivalent of 60 times around the world each week, transporting millions of passengers comfortably and efficiently.

“With this extensive knowledge and our constant focus on value provision, we can drive down lifecycle costs and significantly improve the passenger experience.

“This has been key to our development of a unique proposition to meet London’s specific challenges and is essential to help TfL accelerate the growth of the Tube network and improve the capacity and reliability of its train services.

“Additionally we can further develop rail skills and our investment, something that is so important to our organisations and the continued success of the UK rail industry.”