RIA welcomes increase in private investment in railways

The rail regulator Office of Rail and Road (ORR) has published statistics showing private investment in the rail sector has reached £1.3 billion for the year 2017 to 2018, the highest in the last decade.

Darren Caplan, Chief Executive of the Railway Industry Association (RIA) said: “It is very positive to see the levels of private investment in the UK rail network increasing to £1.3 billion, a considerable increase over the past decade. These figures show that the private sector is ready to provide finance to improve services, ultimately benefiting passengers and freight, whilst lessening the burden on taxpayers too.

“It has been more than a year since Prof. Hansford published his independent review into contestability on the UK railways. Whilst there has been welcome progress on a number of his recommendations, there is still considerable room for more third party financing into infrastructure. We urge Network Rail and the Department for Transport to continue its work in simplifying business cases, increasing collaboration and working with the supply chain, who stand ready to finance and deliver much-needed projects on the network.”

1.  The ORR figures can be found here.
2.  About RIA: The Railway Industry Association (RIA) is the representative body for UK-based suppliers to the UK and world-wide railways. It has more than 220 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.