Railway Industry Association's membership hits record 300

The Railway Industry Association (RIA) this week has reached a record 300 members, welcoming global technology company IBM as the latest organisation to join. The news was announced at RIA’s Annual Parliamentary Reception, attended by more than 200 politicians and rail players from across the railway industry. The company received its membership certificate with Graham Stuart MP, International Trade Minister, with responsibility for Investment, at the presentation.

From left to right: DIT Investment Minister Graham Stuart MP, Julian Burnett, Vice President, UK&I - Global Markets, IBM, and Darren Caplan, Chief Executive, RIA.

Darren Caplan, Chief Executive of the Railway Industry Association, said: “It is fantastic news for the Railway Industry Association to hit our 300th member milestone at the start of such an exceptionally important year for rail. RIA’s membership has increased from 190 in 2017 to 300 at the start of this year, an increase of almost 60%, and we think this shows how important rail businesses feel it is to be part of a vibrant community which enables them to network with each other, clients and policy-makers, and to drive and benefit from the Association’s lobbying, policy, technical, exports, events, and market intelligence work. 

“It is also great to reach this milestone in what is the 145th Anniversary Year of RIA, showing that – 145 years on from when we were first set up – RIA is still a go-to voice for the UK rail supply community, representing all types of businesses, from multinationals through to SMEs, in all parts of the country, and across all the various railway industry disciplines. 
 
"We now welcome IBM to our rail family and thank all our members, both new and long-standing, for their continued support for RIA, as we work with them to help build an even bigger and better rail supply sector in the months and years ahead.”
 

Notes to Editors

1. 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 300+ 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