County Council leader welcomes Great British Railways success

The Leader of Derbyshire County Council has hailed Derby’s success as winner of a national Government competition to become the home of new public sector body Great British Railways (GBR).

County Council Leader, Councillor Barry Lewis said: “This is tremendous news for Derby and for the East Midlands as a whole. The decision by the Government recognises and celebrates Derby’s historic role at the epicentre of the nation’s railway network, our region’s rightful place as a centre of national excellence for today’s rail industry, and our powerful economic ambitions for the future through our County Deal devolution proposals for the East Midlands.

“Many suppliers of Derby’s rail industry are based in our county, so I look forward to seeing supply chain opportunities continue to grow across Derbyshire bringing even more opportunities for skilling our workforce, providing new high-quality jobs, and inspiring and nurturing the engineering talent of the future.”

“I’d like to thank everyone who has worked so hard to make this a reality – including the thousands of people who voted for Derby to become the headquarters of the nation’s railways, against strong competition from other areas.

“This is levelling up for our region in action and clearly demonstrates the Government’s confidence in our economic future.”

You can learn more about the Great British Railways bid on the Derby GBR website at www.derbygbr.co.uk.