Railway Industry Association welcomes new Transport Select Committee Chair

30 January 2020

Huw Merriman, Conservative MP for Bexhill and Battle, has been announced as the new Chair of the Transport Select Committee.

Darren Caplan, Chief Executive of the Railway Industry Association, said: "On behalf of the Railway Industry Association and its members, I'd like to welcome Huw Merriman MP as the newly appointed Chair of the Transport Select Committee. 

"The new Chair has already shown himself to be interested in railway industry issues during his time previously on the Committee and we look forward to working with him on the range of challenges and opportunities facing the rail sector over the coming years.

“In the last Parliament, the Committee was effective in scrutinising the Government on 'boom and bust' rail funding, electrification policy, and the visibility of enhancement projects - and we'd urge the new Chair and the Committee to continue this work. We'd also urge the Committee to reopen its 'trains fit for the future' inquiry, launched before the General Election, which considered the two important areas of decarbonisation and customer satisfaction of rail services.

"I'd also like to thank outgoing Chair Lilian Greenwood MP, who has been an incredibly supportive and accessible chair in recent years, and has been pivotal in ensuring effective rail policy. We look forward to working with her in her constituency role, as MP for Nottingham South, too in future!" 

Notes to Editors

  1. The announcement about the election 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 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.