Employees of Bombardier’s manufacturing site in Derby today welcomed His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, as part of a tour of the region to show his support for British manufacturing. Bombardier’s Derby site is the UK’s only rolling stock manufacturing facility and one of the UK’s leading centres of engineering excellence.

The Prince spent more than an hour at the site, where he met key members of staff, including engineers and project and manufacturing team members, as well as local officials. He was hosted by Sir Neville Simms, Non-Executive Chairman of Bombardier Transportation UK, and given a tour of the site by Dr Francis Paonessa, President of UK Rolling Stock, to view the full scope of the manufacturing process, including the design, construction and test areas. In addition to meeting engineers, The Prince was introduced to young apprentices who are part of the Bombardier Apprentice Scheme.

The Midlands based site in the UK is home to a broad range of products and technologies, including the award-winning BOMBARDIER ELECTROSTAR trains and the latest BOMBARDIER MOVIA metro cars for London Underground. On the site’s test track, The Prince had the opportunity to drive one of the advanced underground trains being delivered for the Sub-Surface (Circle, District, Hammersmith and City, and Metropolitan) lines. Bombardier is supplying more than 1,770 of its globally renowned metro cars as well as new signalling systems to London Underground – currently the biggest rail system upgrade in the world.

Sir Neville Simms said: “Our Derby plant is a key part of Bombardier’s UK operations. Here we produce world class, innovative and highly reliable transport technologies. We greatly appreciate The Prince of Wales visiting our site today to allow us to showcase this facility, our people and our strong pedigree in UK manufacturing.”