Railway Industry Association wins best trade body award at Association Excellence ceremony in London

Some of the RIA team with the Association Excellence Best Overall Association Award

The Railway Industry Association (RIA), the voice of the UK rail supply community, took the top ‘Best Overall Association’ award at the Association Excellence Annual Awards ceremony on Friday 11 October. 
 
The reasons given for RIA winning the award were:

• Focusing on delivering for members and on building a bigger and better rail supply industry;
• Providing a welcoming environment for staff and members, where new ideas and inventive solutions are encouraged;
• Developing as a voice for the rail industry to senior political and stakeholder groups with lobbying campaigns and complementary media engagement; and
• Increasing profile – focusing on the railway industry’s issues of the day – to ensure the rail supply chain is heard, at a time when key decisions about the future of the sector are being made.

Darren Caplan, Chief Executive of the Railway Industry Association, said: “It is great that the Railway Industry Association and its members are being recognised by peers in other sectors in this way, and we are excited to win this award for excellence, our third in two years.
 
“At a time when much reporting on rail focuses on negativity and controversy, the RIA team and its members are working incredibly hard to overcome the challenges – boom and bust in infrastructure and rolling stock investment, lack of an enhancements pipeline, and a political arena dominated by structural change and Brexit – and promote the positives, with the railway industry generating 600,000 jobs, £36bn GVA and fostering rail innovation, for the ultimate benefit of UK plc.
 
“So we think this award reflects positively not just on the team at RIA but also on the whole railway industry. A big thank you to Team RIA and, of course, the efforts of our fantastic membership, without whom this award would not be possible!”.
 

1. The Association Excellence Awards acknowledge, recognise and reward the hard-won achievements of trade bodies, professionals membership organisations and associations. Bringing together an outstanding panel of judges, representing associations from every sector, these awards recognise individuals, teams and initiatives and highlight excellence in how trade bodies operate and serve their members and clients. More information here: https://associationexcellenceawards.co.uk/ 
2. The Award judges are drawn from trade associations across a wide selection of sectors – see https://associationexcellenceawards.co.uk/2019judges/
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 290+ 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.