The Railway Industry Association (RIA) has published a Review of the Government’s progress on rail thus far, marking the end of the Labour party’s first 12 months in office since gaining power on 5 July 2024.
The report, named ‘One Year of Government – The Railway Industry Association’s Review of UK Rail’, sees the RIA judge the government’s progress against its 2024 manifesto of ‘Key Asks’ across three different categories: what has been fulfilled, what is currently ongoing and what has, currently, been left unclear.
RIA’s analysis focuses on a number of long-standing objectives, including the formation of a long-term strategy, the delivery of industry reform, the acceleration of new train orders and low carbon network upgrades, the support of a sustainable supply chain and the leveraging of private investment.
Commenting on the One Year Review, Railway Industry Association (RIA) Chief Executive Darren Caplan, said:It is clear that, on the anniversary of its first year in power, some progress has been made by the Government on rail policy, and this is to be welcomed. Outside of the positive Spending Review and cities and towns rail scheme funding announcements in June, we recognise for example the commitment to a long-term strategy for rail, including the promise to set out a rolling stock pipeline, so vital to reducing the cost and increasing the value of public investment in the railways. And we look forward to seeing further details of the Government’s promised Infrastructure Pipeline, set to be published later this month, which should give clarity to rail suppliers on specific future investments.
However, we need to see further ambition from the Government on leveraging private funding and finance into rail which could support investment in rail schemes, for example, station projects coupled with wider housing developments. And we need to see progress on rail reform, the establishment of GBR and the integration of devolution into its transport plans, to avoid a hiatus in rail work.
Ultimately, we encourage the Government to use 2025 as a starting point to collaborate more closely with the railway industry and its fantastic supply sector, to ensure together we can build the best railway possible, in what is UK Rail’s 200th and RIA’s 150th landmark year. And we of course hope to see more of our members’ RIA Manifesto ‘asks’ being fulfilled over the months and years ahead.
The full review can be accessed here.
