Railway industry: Government recognition and support for cost-effective electrification welcomed

The Railway Industry Association (RIA) has welcomed a letter from the Transport Secretary to Parliament’s Transport Select Committee published today, which claims that Government “will ensure that lessons are learnt from previous electrification schemes and those currently underway” to ensure value for money for taxpayers.
 
Darren Caplan, Chief Executive of the Railway Industry Association (RIA), said: “We welcome the Transport Secretary Grant Shapps’ confirmation that the Government will work to learn the positive lessons from past rail electrification schemes and explore the potential to speed up the development of some electrification schemes as its rail infrastructure strategy progresses. And we are also pleased to see a renewed commitment to the cross-sector Rail Industry Decarbonisation Report – it is clear that electrification of intensively-used lines is the best way to decarbonise the rail network.
 
“The industry and Government are in agreement on the cost of electrification. As RIA’s recent Electrification Cost Challenge report shows, we can reduce costs by up to 50% based on past projects. However, the key way to do so is to provide a consistent, rolling programme of electrification work, that allows rail businesses to build up capabilities and retain skilled labour.
 
“So commensurate with this, we urge the Government to deliver a rolling programme of investment for electrification, to both prevent a hiatus as current electrification schemes in the UK come to an end, and to ensure value for money for the taxpayer, given a rolling programme of electrification is more economically efficient and cost-effective than boom and bust in electrification investment.” 

Notes to Editors

1. The Letter can be found on the Transport Select Committee Twitter page
2. 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.