EMERGENCY talks are under way after Bombardier announced up to 210 job cuts at its troubled Crewe Works yesterday.

The bombshell news was delivered by management only weeks after rail workers celebrated an £85m order they believed would secure jobs at the West Street site for 10 years.

Today they were still reeling after hearing about a new wave of jobs cuts which will leave many out of work by Christmas.

Bombardier bosses hope to shed most of the 210 positions through voluntary redundancy but cannot rule out compulsory job losses.

The site carries out repairs and maintenance to rail vehicles and management blame more reliable trains and a reduced workload for its decision to axe posts.

It says the job cuts are crucial to secure the long term future of the site.

A Bombardier Transportation spokeswoman said: 'The Crewe transformation plan includes a number of projects focusing on areas such as productivity, delivery and quality.

'There has been a substantial decrease in the available workload due to the increased reliability of new trains and the phase out of old legacy fleets.

'It is recognised that the site needs to restore profitability and build a sustainable operational advantage.

'This situation means that, unfortunately, there is a need to reduce the number of employees at the site by up to 210 people.

'We are confident this action will help deliver the necessary changes at Crewe, strengthening the site's position on the UK market.'

A number of job cuts were made in November but in June workers celebrated a major order from train operator First Great Western to re-vamp high-speed rail cars.

Work was split between the Canadian-owned company's sites in Crewe and Derby.

But staff were told it was not enough to prevent further losses. New job cuts will be made between now and April. They will be across all departments.

Union leaders are today holding crisis talks with staff.

Union convener Mick Roberts said: 'Bombardier has officially proposed 210 job cuts and myself and other union officials are meeting with the various shifts to discuss how we are going to deal with that many.

'It is devastating news and a huge blow but the company is stressing these cuts are necessary in order to safeguard any kind of future at the Crewe site.'