Railway Industry Association wins Conference of the Year Award

The accolade was awarded to RIA for its Annual Conference which took place in October 2018, bringing together RIA members companies of all sizes with clients, political decision makers, and influencers for a day of informative discussions and networking. Last year, speakers included Transport Secretary Chris Grayling, the new-in-post Network Rail Chief Executive Andrew Haines, Shadow Transport Secretary Andy McDonald and National Infrastructure Commission Chairman Sir John Armitt. Over 300 people attended. 

Team RIA collecting the Best Conference of the Year Award

The Award Judges said: "RIA’s Annual Conference ticked all the boxes for the TA Best Practice Awards Conference of the Year.  The introduction of sponsorship for the first time was a real step change and this, along with strong social media activity, a new dedicated newsletter, a very strong line-up of speakers and innovative video messages ensured the event’s success.  The judges were particularly impressed with the very measurable strategic approach and the inclusive nature of the event.  RIA are continually raising the bar with their events in general and winning this award is in recognition of this.”

Katherine Anchorena, Marketing & Events Manager at the Railway Industry Association, said: “It is wonderful that RIA’s Annual Conference has won the ‘Conference of the Year’ at last night’s Trade Association Forum Awards. This confirms our Annual Conference as not only an rail industry-leading event, but worthy of recognition by peers across a number of other sectors too. I would like to thank all those who were involved in making our Annual Conference a success – our members, speakers and sponsors - and of course, the fantastic RIA team who worked so hard on this flagship event.

“We now look forward to welcoming everyone to our award winning 2019 Annual Conference on 7-8 November!”

1. More information about the 2019 Annual Conference can be found here
2. RIA won the Trade Association Forum Conference of the Year Award in 2018 for its Innovation Conference. More information available here.
3. 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 280+ 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.