RIA announces new, inclusive, membership offer which starts today
4 September 2018
The Railway Industry Association (RIA) is excited to announce a new landmark RIA membership offer for sector entrants and smaller players in the rail supply sector.
The new fee, which starts today, will be set at an annual rate of £875, which is half the price of the current minimum £1,750 level, and is designed to make RIA more accessible to companies with less than £1 million rail turnover. Existing members who meet the criteria will also benefit from the lower fee when the new membership year starts in April 2019.
Both new and current RIA Members will benefit from the new inclusive membership offer if they meet the criteria of:
- Under £1 million UK rail turnover;
- Are not owned by a company with a turnover of more than £50 million.
This new level will enable more small organisations, micro businesses and individuals to join RIA, ensuring the voice of the UK rail supply community is even more representative and impactful in future. It will also make sure new people, ideas, innovation, growth and – in particular – SME success is brought in to the rail supply community.
With seven months of the current subscription year left, prospective members who join this September at the new level will pay just £510+VAT for membership up to March 2019, representing amazing value!
Darren Caplan, Chief Executive of the Railway Industry Association (RIA), said: “RIA really is excited to be introducing this new membership offer. There are numerous organisations and innovators looking to come into the rail industry and to join RIA, bringing new ideas and ways of thinking; and the new inclusive membership offer, set at less than £1,000, will enable them to do so.
“RIA is growing – in the last year its membership has increased from 190 to over 215 members. This new lower fee will help even more prospective SMEs, micro businesses and sole traders, join our award-winning team, assisting us to do whatever we can to help grow the rail supply sector in what are clearly uncertain times. It is also a ‘helping hand’ for existing RIA SMEs with a rail turnover of less than £1 million.
“RIA is always keen to welcome in rail suppliers of all sizes. This new offer should hopefully make it markedly easier for those with lower rail turnovers to join RIA, grow their businesses and benefit from our lobbying, policy, technical, and exports work, tender opportunities and best practice sharing and flagship events. And it helps RIA’s voice to become even more representative.
“There really has never been a better time to join the Railway Industry Association!”
Notes to Editors
- About the new Inclusive Membership level: The new inclusive membership is available for new members from 4 September 2018. Companies joining now at this rate will pay £510+VAT, pro rata to 31 March 2019. Existing RIA Members who qualify will see their membership fee reduce from 1 April 2019 to £875+VAT.
- About RIA: The Railway Industry Association (RIA) is the representative body for UK-based suppliers to the UK and world-wide railways. We help to grow a sustainable, high-performing, railway supply industry, and to export UK rail expertise and products. We promote and represent our members’ interests to policy makers, clients and other stakeholders in the UK and overseas. RIA has 215+ companies in membership in a sector that contributes £36 billion in economic growth and £11 billion in tax revenue each year, as well as employing 600,000 people—more than the workforce of Birmingham. It is also a growing industry with the number of rail journeys expected to double over the next 25 years and freight set to grow significantly too. RIA’s membership is active across the whole of railway supply, covering a diverse range of products and services and including both multi-national companies and SMEs (60% by number). RIA works to promote the importance of the rail system to UK plc, to help export UK expertise around the globe and to share best practice and innovation across the industry.