Bombardier to unveil job cuts

The Canadian aircraft and train maker Bombardier is expected to announce job cuts at its plant in Derby today, after losing out to the German group Siemens in the battle for a key contract to supply trains for Thameslink.

Last month, Britain awarded a consortium led by Siemens a contract to build and maintain 1,200 train carriages on London's Thameslink commuter rail service as part of a £6bn upgrade of a line which links Brighton on the south coast to commuter towns north of London via the centre of the capital.

Bombardier insisted yesterday that reports of it shedding up to a third of its workforce at Derby – some 2,000 jobs – were wrong.