LONDON: A British decision to award a 7.5 billion pound (10.9 billion dollar, 8.4 billion euro) order for trains to a Japanese-led group sparked anger Friday amid rising unemployment and recession here.
Agility Trains, a consortium including Japan’s Hitachi, Britain’s John Laing and Barclays banking group, was awarded the contract on Thursday for a fleet of “super express” trains for the Great Western and East Coast main lines. It beat a rival group Express Rail Alliance, comprising Bombardier Transportation, Siemens, Angel Trains and Babcock & Brown, which said it was “extremely disappointed” after spending 18 months on its bid.
“Fury as Japan gets our jobs,” ran the front-page headline of the Daily Express, which highlighted the contrast with Prime Minister, Gordon Brown’s controversial pledge to protect “British jobs for British workers.”
source : jang.com.pk
