The Railway Industry Association (RIA) presents ‘Rail Matters’, a collaboration with ITN Productions

The Railway Industry (RIA) and ITN Productions Industry News are producing “Rail Matters” a news and current affairs-style programme exploring the future of the world-class UK rail industry and the exciting opportunities for investment, innovation and industry growth that 2019 and beyond bring.

The UK’s entire rail network contributes £36.4bn to the economy every year and around 600,000 jobs. With passenger numbers having doubled in the last 25 years, growing a sustainable UK rail supply industry is vital to the country’s economic success.
 
In a time of uncertainty – with an eye on post-Brexit implications, the Williams Rail Review, a new Network Rail devolved structure, and a new Control Period, CP6, “Rail Matters” will explore opportunities in UK rail as the industry continues expanding through digitalisation, electrification, decarbonisation, enhanced customer experience, skills, exports, and sustainability.
 
The news-style piece will be anchored by national newsreader Natasha Kaplinsky to combine key interviews and reports with sponsored editorial profiles from leading organisations.
 
The programme will premiere on 7 November at RIA’s Annual Conference in London.  The programme will form part of an extensive communications campaign featuring RIA members, industry partners, government partners, as well as journalists, writers and bloggers.

 
Vicki Clubley, Head of Industry News, ITN Productions, said: “We’re delighted to be continuing our partnership with The Railway Industry Association to produce another programme that looks at the future of the industry and supply sector, showcasing the exciting opportunities that growing a sustainable UK rail supply industry brings.”

For more information, or to participate in the programme, please contact James Linden, Head Programming Director at ITN Productions, on 0207 430 4228 or [email protected].  

Notes to Editors

1. About RIA: The Railway Industry Association (RIA) is the voice of the UK rail supply community. 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 260+ 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.
2. About ITN Productions: ITN Productions is ITN’s bespoke production hub producing creative and commercially valuable content for the business, commercial, broadcast and digital sectors. Industry News forms part of this offering and is a communications tool for leading industry bodies and national associations produced in a broadcast news programme format, including interviews, news items and sponsored editorial profiles. For more information visit: www.itnproductions.co.uk