The state government has revealed a $2.3-billion contract for new double deck trains, will be built in South Korea by a multinational consortium.
The fleet will be built by UGL, Hyundai and Mitsubishi, and will include 500 new carriages, which will be rolled out from 2019.
They’ll service Newcastle, the Central Coast and South Coast, with added features like CCTV, charging stations, wider seats and digital screens.
“We want to encourage people out of cars and that’s why we want these trains to offer the next level of comfort and convenience for those commuting a long way,” said Transport Minister Andrew Constance.
But the decision to send the contract overseas has been met with fierce opposition by the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union, who says it could lead to the collapse of the local industry in Newcastle.
“This decision is a betrayal,” said AMWU NSW Secretary Tim Ayres.
“This is money that should have been invested in Australian workers and Australian communities. Instead, we are deliberately sending manufacturing jobs offshore.”
“We will be seeking critical talks with the government to prevent the collapse of the rail manufacturing industry,” he said.
Typo on heading and video title… condemns.
You just have to laugh at the AMWU and their complete lack of understandong. One local manufacturering group was going with an overseas build in China from their design, one group was a completely overseas builder, and the winner was a group Newcastle based manufacturer building overseas in Korea on their design. So where are the local jobs in any of theses bidders? The timeframe demanded meant no local builder could supply in time and thus needed to go overseas for the carriages to be msde.