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.”