I have to drive trains built in Derby by Bombardier and they are far from perfect. It's no wonder Siemens won the bid to build the new trains.
The railway I work for will be run by the Dutch from February and on the freight side, EWS used to be owned by an American company.
Since privatisation there has been foreign interests in our railway.
That's Business I suppose.
Ali.
Siemens products are not that good. They hide behind the Myth " Made in Germany" as quality. In fact there trains, the ICE for example breakdown, loose wheels, fracture axles (the ICE Rolling Stock have to have monthly X Ray checks on their axles, instead of the promised 200K kms checks, which has resulted in 30% of the trains are not in Service)and derail so often that it rarely makes the News. Also the practise of the German Media to never critisise German products openly, only report negative reports of other Countries , makes the matter worse. Siemens will deliver, late, the end price will be over 40% more than that quoted, and they will be plagued with problems, all of which will be blamed on the Brits. As an example of Siemens "Forward Thinking" how about an Air Conditioning System that switches OFF when the outside temperatur exceeds 30°C? That is what Siemens installed in their latest model of the ICE !!