Transport Select Committee Inquiry into: Rail Investment Pipelines – Ending Boom and Bust, February 2025 Railway Industry Association (RIA) Submission February 2025 1.
INTRODUCTION
1.1.
This paper is the Railway Industry Association (RIA) submission to the Transport Select Committee (TSC) Inquiry: ‘Rail Investment Pipelines; Ending Boom and Bust’.
2.
ABOUT RIA
2.1.
The Railway Industry Association (RIA) champions a dynamic UK rail supply sector. We help to grow a sustainable, and high-performing railway as well as promoting UK rail expertise and products to international markets. RIA has over 400 companies in membership, active across the whole of the rail supply sector and covering a diverse range of products and services, including both multi-national companies and SMEs (60% by number).
2.2.
The rail network remains one of the UK’s most valuable assets, with potential to support clean growth and wider social benefits for communities right across the UK. A 2024 report produced by Oxford Economicsi shows that the rail industry supports: £41 billion GVA in economic growth; 640,000 jobs; £14 billion in tax revenue each year; and Labour productivity in the rail supply sector is 29% higher than the national average.
Figure 1: Rail investment levels have been volatile for decades
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