“The need to promote the case for rail and investment has never been stronger.” That was the message from Darren Caplan, the Chief Executive of the Railway Industry Association (RIA) in his opening speech at the Annual Conference & Dinner.
This year’s Annual Conference theme focused on ‘Promoting the case for rail and investment in uncertain times’, which was very appropriate given the recent news of HS2 Phase 2 between Birmingham and Manchester being scrapped and Old Oak Comon to Euston paused, and little update in rail reform legislation.
Darren’s comments came more than four years since the latest update on the Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline and more than 1,000 days since the last rolling stock order. This has fed into rail businesses’ market confidence, with an annual Savanta survey of 200 rail leaders finding that over half will contract in the coming year (the highest negative rating in the last five years since the survey began) and less than half expect their businesses to grow.
“Yes these are difficult times for us in the rail supply world, but let’s remember that in the medium term, the outlook for the industry remains bright,” added Darren. “It is clear that people still want to travel by rail – and there is no reason to doubt that this will not grow, given the right incentives.
“There are a host of innovations waiting to be implemented, including in the areas of data and retail which is informing more and more of the work we at RIA do. Rail remains the obvious backbone of an integrated public transport network that facilitates travel within, around and between our great cities, towns and communities. Rail is not in decline. We are going to need more investment in major transport infrastructure schemes and in rolling stock, not less.
“Our challenge is to help whoever is in Government this time next year to recognise this, and make sure we can navigate the challenges and take advantage of the opportunities in the next few years. As per the Conference theme, we will redouble our efforts to ‘Promote the case for rail investment in these uncertain times’.
The speech kicked off two days of keynote speeches, panel discussions, interview sessions, spotlight exhibitor pitches and unique networking opportunities for rail suppliers, clients, policy makers and influencers, stakeholders and media.
