RIA welcomes new First of a Kind funding announcement

2 July 2021

The Railway Industry Association (RIA), the voice of the UK rail supply community, has welcomed the announcement of further funding as part of the First of a Kind initiative.

David Clarke, Technical Director at the Railway Industry Association (RIA), said: “Congratulations to all organisations that have been awarded ‘First of a Kind’ funding to develop world-leading innovations across the railway sector. With the First of a Kind initiative now in its fifth round, we hope that many of these past projects are now being picked up and implemented, for the benefit of passengers and freight users.

“Even before the Coronavirus pandemic, it was difficult for innovators to secure support and funding to scale up projects, so that they could be ready to deploy on the rail network, but now – when many businesses are facing uncertain times following the pandemic – these businesses must have the support they need. So we need to ensure there is no hiatus in decision making for the implementation of projects whilst rail revenue recovers. In fact, now is the time to implement these innovations at scale, as we seek to encourage passengers back and spark an economic recovery across the UK.”  

 
Notes to Editors

 

  1. The Government announcement can be found here
  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. 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 vital industry for the UK’s economic recovery, supporting green investment and jobs in towns and communities across the UK. 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.