"...as much as you are reasonably able."

You may or may not have heard - it's been very much in the news here in Derby, but then that's not really surprising - but the last remaining train-manufacturing works in the UK looks to be in genuine danger of closing, with it bringing to an end almost two centuries of industrial heritage and tradition.

The Bombardier works on Litchurch Lane in Derby are what remains of the great historic railway works which used to dominate the city; the buildings themselves trace a history back through the British Rail period, via the era of the London, Midland & Scottish Railway to the Midland Railway's Derby Carriage and Wagon Works, built in the 1860s. Bombardier, the descendant of the railway companies which formerly inhabited the site, remain a major employer in Derby, with some 3,000 employees on site working on various contracts building, refurbishing and refitting a variety of trains and rolling-stock

Bombardier earlier this month discovered that they had been unsuccessful in their bid to build carriages for the Thameslink project, losing out to a rival bid from Siemens. This followed a similarly unsuccessful bid by the Express Rail Alliance consortium, of which Bombardier was a member, to produce trains for the Intercity Express programme - the successful tender in this case was submitted by the Hitachi-led consortium Agility Trains - and leaves Bombardier in a rather worrying position.

Of Bombardier's five current contracts, it's likely that four will come to a close by October this year, and the fifth - a contract for London Underground - will continue only until 2014, and even then require only a proportion of current capacity and workforce. Had Bombardier been successful in their bid for the Thameslink contract, it's likely that it would have been followed with the award of a rolling-stock contract for the Crossrail project; together, these would likely have kept the Litchurch Lane works busy for the next few years, with a full order-book well into 2020 and possibly beyond. As it is, though, the current Bombardier tender for Crossrail may well again come second to a Siemens bid, leaving Bombardier with nowhere near enough anticipated future orders and in the unenviable situation of presiding over the slow decline of the business as current contracts are completed and expire.

Over 1,400 Bombardier workers have either been released or will shortly lose their jobs following the Thameslink announcement, and many more jobs and businesses in Derby and the East Midlands will be at risk as the effects are felt through Bombardier's supply chain; should the company cease operations in the city altogether, it's estimated that in addition to the 3,000 Bombardier jobs lost, thousands of jobs will be lost in local supply chain and ancillary businesses. 

Not to mention the demise of the train-manufacturing industry in the UK, the dissipation of the unique concentration of skills and experience built up over generations of trainbuilding in Derby and the potential fatal effects on any number of small manufacturing businesses in the local area - or indeed, the huge effect on the city of Derby that the closure of any such large local employer will inevitably have.

Unusually for me, I'm not going to take the opportunity to loudly rail here and finger-waggingly share my resentful perception of governmental failings, structural weaknesses in the UK's manufacturing base, failures in Civil Service interpretation of EU procurement policy or whatever. I'd just ask that, if you're as concerned about the implications of what's happening at Bombardier as I am, you take the time to support the Bombardier campaign as much as you are reasonably able.

The trade union Unite have posted an online petition which "...calls on the government to reverse its decision, and support UK manufacturing by awarding Bombardier the contract to build the new carriages for the Thameslink project." Over 50,000 people have already signed the petition - a copy of which has been presented to the Government by local MP Chris Williamson - and if you're interested in retaining train-manufacturing capacity in the UK and minded to sign the petition yourself, then I'd urge you to do so. There's also a Facebook group, Thameslink Protest, linked to the campaign; again, if you're interested, please do join and get involved.

Indeed, if you'd like to physically get involved, and if you're in Derby this weekend yourself, the Bombardier rally is on Saturday; meet at the Bass Recreation Ground on St Alkmunds Way for a 10am start.