RIA welcomes launch of Innovation Station programme

The Railway Industry Association (RIA) has welcomed the launch of Innovation Station, a new agile innovation programme to address key challenges faced by British railway stations.

David Clarke, Technical Director of the Railway Industry Association (RIA), said: “It’s great to see Network Rail and Connected Places Catapult announce their Innovation Station process today. There are a huge number of innovative ideas on how we can improve the station environment, both from multinational and SME members of the supply chain, so we look forward to seeing the outcome of this new process, and how new ideas can be rapidly developed into benefits that customers of the railway can see.”

1. Network Rail, in partnership with Connected Places Catapult (CPC), has launched a new programme to find innovative solutions to address key challenges currently faced by British railway stations. The first phase of the Innovation Station programme looks to solve challenges around collecting real-time crowding information on platforms and identifying new measures for monitoring and checking station equipment. Using Manchester Piccadilly Station as a testbed, the programme will look to trial new design solutions addressing each of the challenges, selected through a Design Contest Competition. Find out more 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. 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.