The Government's decision to give the £1.5 billion contract for new dual-voltage Thameslink trains to Siemens has worried workers at Bombardier's factory at Derby.

Siemens will build the 1,200 carriages at Krefeld in Germany while the jobs of 3,000 workers at Derby may now be at risk.

How the decision was made by the Government is not clear, although it said the Siemens bid had offered "significantly better value". The deal includes an agreement to build, own, finance and maintain the trains, which will be delivered from 2015.

No one has asked passengers which trains they would prefer, or whether there would adequate space for luggage on a route which serves two airports, Luton and Gatwick, or space for bikes.

Siemens Desiro class 350 trains are running on London Midland while Bombardier's Electrostar class 377 trains are operated by Southern as well as on the existing Thameslink route.

The Electrostars are extremely popular with passengers.

Both Bombardier and Siemens are international companies and Siemens has some railway components factories in Britain.

Bombardier's contracts to build Electrostar and Turbostar trains and some London Underground trains will be completed this year.

It will leave one assembly line busy at Derby building Tube trains for London Underground until 2014.

Former Derby North MP Bob Laxton said: "I do not want to be a prophet of doom but I really hope Bombardier does not have to close down and pull out of the UK.

"They are the last train builders in this country - the country that invented and built the railway system for the world. The worst case scenario, which could really happen, is 3,000 jobs going from around this area and another 10,000 jobs in the supply chain."