Railway Industry Association welcomes new Network Rail SME Action Plan

The Railway Industry Association (RIA), the voice of the national rail supply community, has welcomed the publication of Network Rail’s SME Action Plan.

Damian Testa, Senior Policy Manager at the Railway Industry Association (RIA), said: “The Railway Industry Association worked closely with Network Rail to develop this Action Plan, which provides practical steps for Network Rail to achieve the Government’s target of a third of their annual expenditure being spent via small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) by 2022.

“SMEs are incredibly important to the rail industry. They are a source of new ideas and innovation, provide specialist products and services and are important for communities across the UK, often recruiting and upskilling people locally. However, it is important that rail provides a welcoming environment to these companies with easy routes into the market and support when faced with sometimes complex procurement processes. We therefore very much support Network Rail’s efforts in developing this Action Plan, and look forward to working with them to implement it further.”

1. Network Rail’s SME Action Plan 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. We promote and represent our members’ interests to policy makers, clients and other stakeholders in the UK and overseas. RIA has 290+ 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.