This year’s Railway Industry Association (RIA) annual conference looked to the future with its theme ‘Resetting the Railway to Growth’.
Opening the conference, RIA’s Chief Executive Darren Caplan welcomed recent government transport investment announcements, though remained concerned about the lack of electrification projects and the consequent loss of expertise needed to keep electrification costs as low.
He noted that despite annual international rail markets growth, UK rail turnover has contracted, and business confidence is low. RIA’s main ask of government is for predictable long-term work pipelines to end the boom-and-bust cycle which makes it difficult for suppliers to recruit and invest and puts businesses at risk.
Darren was pleased to see the Great British Railways (GBR) Bill going to Parliament. He asked Government to form a genuine partnership with the supply chain as part of rail reform. Despite current challenges, RIA remains optimistic about rail’s long-term prospects as, with a 16% annual increase in passenger numbers since 2024, the UK is on track to nearly double passenger numbers by 2050.
The Minister’s view
Secretary of State for Transport Heidi Alexander addressed the conference immediately before presenting the GBR Bill to Parliament. She considered rail reform to be a unique opportunity to repair what’s broken and restore pride in our railways.
She explained that public ownership is a necessary foundation for reform, but not sufficient on its own. GBR is required to unify the industry under accountable leadership to end blame-shifting among multiple bodies to create a simpler railway that delivers a better passenger experience and a fairer deal for taxpayers.
She considered that active engagement with the supply chain is essential for rail reform and had heard what Darren said about boom and bust rather than feast and famine. To address this, work has started work on an infrastructure and rolling stock strategy which will be published in summer 2026.
This strategy will be a plan for the longer term and will get better value for money from rolling stock procurement. It will have a joined-up approach that considers the interaction between rolling stock and the infrastructure.
Having seen how the DLR, Elizabeth line, and the new Northumberland Line have supported regeneration, she said she understood the benefits that railways bring. Hence, over the next four years £25 billion has been allocated to HS2 and over £10 billion is to be spent on projects such as the TransPennine route and East West Rail. However, electrification of the Midland Main Line (MML) was paused as it’s not affordable, although this is being kept under review. She considered this was the responsible thing to do as it allowed money to be spent elsewhere, such as the £2.2 billion settlement for Transport for London (TfL).
She also advised that there will be a decision on Northern Powerhouse Rail in due course and stressed that GBR will have a statutory duty to promote rail freight.
GBR – ORR’s view
John Larkinson, chief executive of the Office of Rail and Road (ORR), explained that GBR will increase the ORR’s workload as it will have to approve business plans, oversee ticketing, and manage long-term asset issues. The ORR has also to ensure value for money within the five-year funding cycles for infrastructure maintenance and renewal.
ORR’s role to agree train paths will become GBR’s responsibility. However, as not all operators will be in GBR (Freight, Scotland, Wales, Mersey Rail), it will consider any appeals on GBR access decisions.
Larkin considered that the formation of the Passenger Councils will offer more transparency in decision-making. He also stressed that the ORR would ensure that safety standards are maintained as GBR is established.
GBR – Green Signals
A live Green Signals podcast at the conference took place the day after the GBR Bill had been presented to Parliament. This gave Richard Bowker a chance to look at the Bill and its accompanying documents. He found that the government’s response to the GBR consultation, ‘A railway fit for Britain’s future’, had much “ideological twaddle”, and he felt that was a shame as the Government deserves a lot of credit for producing the Bill so quickly.
As at present, GBR will have committed funding for five-year periods for its infrastructure operations, maintenance, and renewals spending. This will not include the cost of passenger services for which funds will be allocated by the spending review process. GBR will have a duty to produce five-year business plans, though Richard was unsure how this could be done if one funding stream is committed for five years while the other one is not.
He felt that GBR’s allocation of train access will help optimise network capacity. Yet there was concern about how this would apply to freight and open access. Hence there needed to be a clear objective and fair criteria for rail capacity allocation.
Finally, Richard noted that the Bill is just the first step and felt that the biggest unanswered question was how GBR would be organised.
GBR – unified operations
The Southeastern franchise became a publicly-owned operation when it was taken over by DfT OLR Holdings (DFTO) in 2021. As part of the transition to GBR, in June 2025, Southeastern and Network Rail (Kent) unified their operations to become the South Eastern Railway (SER) whose managing director is Steve White.
In his presentation Steve explained how this involves merging teams, common training, aligning departments, and fostering collaboration between drivers, engineers, and planners. This cultural integration is being achieved by joint barbecues and building trust through open communication and shared experiences.
In the first 150 days, rapid progress had been made with proactive weather management and timetable enhancements for better punctuality. The integrated organisation can now write business cases based on whole system benefits which are more likely to be funded.
Steve was pleased that SER now had the authority to make decisions. Two years ago, he had been told that the timetable couldn’t be changed – now there is a fundamentally different timetable which has improved punctuality. However, he cautioned about over-promising and under-delivering as this transformation is a gradual process requiring patience and trust.
He advised that the chief executives from Network Rail, DFTO, and DfT are currently overseeing the transition to GBR. The DfT and DFTO will merge in 2026 and this combined organisation will merge with Network Rail to become GBR in 2027. A GBR chief executive cannot be appointed until the Bill becomes the law.
Operators – Avanti
Avanti West Coast Managing Director Andy Mellors stressed the need to make rail the preferred mode of transport by delivering dependable service and improving the customer’s experience. He advised that cancellations attributable to Avanti have been reduced and were now below 1.5%. However, punctuality remains a challenge which is being addressed by joint improvement plans with Network Rail.
Andy advised that Avanti is one of only two DFT operators returning a premium to government and has delivered over £1 billion in social value since December 2019. It had invested £350 million in new trains and £117 million in upgrades to its Pendolino fleet.
Although passenger numbers have recovered to 94% of pre-Covid levels, 70% of travel is for leisure. Hence revenue remains lower.
Operators – TfW
Marie Daly, chief operating officer for Transport for Wales (TfW), explained how, since TfW took control of the Core Valley Lines in 2020, it had completed 170km of electrification and invested £800 million in 148 level boarding trains of which 102 are now operational. It had also built a new depot and control centre, introduced tap-in, tap-out technology, provided new stations, and improved existing ones.
As a result, customer satisfaction was up 10% year-on-year, and passenger growth is among the industry’s highest. Furthermore, strong industrial relations have also been maintained with trade unions to avoid industrial action.
She emphasised that TfW intended to create a seamless, smart, and sustainable transport system of trams, trains, and buses. To do so it is investing in real time data, integrated ticketing, and digital platforms. Future plans include completion of the South Wales Metro and a multi-billion-pound investment in integrated transport for North Wales.
Operators – TfL
TfL Chief Executive Officer Andy Lord advised that TfL’s £2.2 billion funding settlement will support projects such as the Piccadilly line upgrade, Docklands Light Railway fleet, and new trams and future projects like the Bakerloo and Central line upgrades.
With passenger numbers at 93% of pre-Covid levels, TfL has had an operational surplus for two consecutive years. This was achieved by driving efficiencies and diversifying income streams though, with low government subsidy, fares remained high.
Future plans include making half the Tube step-free by the end of the decade, rolling out 4G/5G across the network, and working to end violence against women, aiming to increase confidence in public transport safety.
He advised that TfL’s supply chain spend supported 100,000 jobs, two-thirds of which were outside London.
Operators – Freightliner
Freightliner Chief Executive Officer Tim Shoveller was concerned that, compared with Europe, Britain’s railways had high costs which reduced the competitiveness of the rail freight business. With intense competition, high track access charges and energy costs, rail freight companies struggle to make profits and that is not financially sustainable.
Despite its environmental advantages of 75% less carbon emissions than road freight, and less congestion and road damage, the UK’s rail freight market share is only about 8%, compared to 14% in Germany.
He welcomed the government’s target of 75% rail freight growth by 2050 but noted that this is not particularly ambitious. He explained that protecting existing freight access rights is critical for encouraging private investment in new terminals and services.
Shoveller also strongly advocated infill electrification projects to enable end-to-end electric freight journeys to improve efficiency, reliability, and network capacity. Faster and more reliable electric locomotives could then create more space for passenger trains.
HS2 – Green Signals
The Green Signals podcast also interviewed former Rail Minister Huw Merriman, chair of Liverpool and Manchester Railway Partnership Board. His answers revealed how the decision to cancel HS2 was taken and how Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) should be progressed.
He advised that the cancellation of HS2 phase 2 was a complete surprise as there had never been any such discussions within the DfT. Late into the process, his civil servants had to advise the Prime Minister on HS2’s cancellation. This put them in a difficult position as they reported to him. Merriman considered this was a political decision which he regretted as the Conservative Party used to be the party of business. He thought it was a really bad decision.
Merriman reflected on his decision not to resign after the HS2 cancellation. He thought that some of the Network North projects were quite useful and that if you stay you can hold people to their commitment to deliver these projects.
He considered that, with increasing traffic on the congested West Coast Main Line, a new rail link such as that proposed by the Mayors of Birmingham and Manchester is vital. He considered that this proposal was still alive though noted that the powers to acquire land for HS2 Phase 2a expire in February. He was confident that Government wanted to keep this option open.
The vision for NPR is for new rail lines connecting towns and cities across the north to grow their economies. A YouGov poll had shown that there was strong public support for this. Yet despite a strong case, there has yet to be a government announcement supporting NPR.
He felt that it was crucial for Government and the region to work in the same room to build the best possible business case and that this currently isn’t happening. Crossrail’s success was due to TfL, London, and government working together, not just to build a railway but also to ensure regeneration which made land value capture help to pay for the railway.
HS2 – WCPD
The West Coast Partnership Development (WCPD) is designing future high-speed services. Its managing director, Shamit Gaiger advised that future customers are at the heart of every decision. For example, WCPD is considering how personalising services can increase revenue and improve customer experience.
Shamit reassured the conference that work is being done to address capacity challenges in the Northwest and Manchester. She advised that a pragmatic solution to the problem of short HS2 train sets was being developed. This is likely to be announced at same time as the HS2 reset.
Due to HS2, regeneration, which includes an integrated economic zone and tens of thousands of new homes, is expected to add £10 billion to the West Midlands economy in the next ten years.
An Irish view
Major projects in Ireland and Northern Ireland were discussed by a panel comprising John Glass, director of infrastructure and projects for Translink and Dr Sean Sweeney, programme director, MetroLink Dublin.
They described the recent All-Ireland Strategic Rail Review which aims to triple passenger numbers by 2050. Of its proposed £31 billion investments over the next 25 years, a quarter will be spent in Northern Ireland.
Glass acknowledged that Northern Ireland faces funding constraints and considered that this investment required private finance which may be difficult to obtain due to political instability. In contrast, the Irish Republic has significant infrastructure investment funds. Yet he noted that the new Belfast Grand Central Station is driving significant increases in usage as the previous station prevented network growth. He also described how Northern Ireland’s integrated bus and rail system was putting passengers first as, unlike the rest of the UK, the region had not privatised its buses.
Metrolink is a new 19km underground line with 16 stations. Sweeney explained that it will boost Dublin’s public transport capacity and support the city’s growth. Contracts for this project will be let next year. He was critical of those who attempt to push all the risk onto contractors. No matter what form of contract, if there’s a problem, it will be the government’s fault. Hence, he considered that clients should do everything they can to help the contractors get things built.
Both speakers stressed the critical role of public communication for large infrastructure projects as information quickly becomes outdated and public support is vital, especially with the disruption caused by such projects. They also spoke of the need for international contractors due to Ireland’s limited local expertise and workforce.
RIA is hosting an All-Ireland Rail Summit in Belfast on 18 February.
GBRX
GBRX Managing Director Toufic Machnouk advised that GBRX had been created to ensure effective adoption of innovative technologies despite significant barriers in the rail sector which include fragmentation, many different organisations, standards, trade union engagement, and procurement laws.
Machnouk emphasised that true innovation makes real, tangible changes. He recognised the challenges of integrating new technologies with legacy infrastructure and that investment had to be balanced between traditional and new solutions. Hence, policy and strategy are also crucial for solving capacity and infrastructure issues.
Toufic advised that GBRX is developing an AI action plan which included an AI incubator to address safety, assurance, and competence in critical environments.
The skills scarcity and the introduction of new technologies require knowledge transfer as large numbers of experienced staff retire. Toufic advised that apprenticeship programmes are also addressing this skills gap.
Network Rail’s new CEO
Jeremy Westlake, Network Rail’s new chief executive, started his talk by referring to his time in aviation optimising supply chain working. This taught him the importance of good visibility of work, and suppliers understanding innovation requirements so that they could, with confidence, invest in R&D and their workforce. Hence, he recognised the importance of the supply chain and wanted to know what suppliers wanted from Network Rail.
He advised how Network Rail had paved the way for GBR by setting up integrated delivery units which was the basis for the recently unified South Eastern Railway. He had recently been to Old Oak Common’s station box and seen blockade working on the Transpennine Route Upgrade project. There, he had been inspired by what everyone had delivered by working closely together. He felt that forming effective working relationships need not wait for legislation.
After talking for just five minutes, the remainder of his 30-minute slot was devoted to questions which raised the following issues:
Network Rail’s focus is safety, reliability, and train performance. The industry had responded well to recent incidents. At Huntingdon, the train had been stopped at the platform eight minutes after the initial report. The line had been reopened at Shap within 40 hours of the derailment.
The importance of working closely with the supply chain to give companies early visibility of what Network Rail is doing and when. However, a show of hands showed that many delegates were not convinced. Westlake acknowledged that Network Rail must try harder.
Investing in technology to improve asset reliability. Westlake didn’t worry about business cases for such kit which often pays for itself within a year.
Improving the adoption of innovation and getting better at implementing new ideas, particularly from SMEs.
Looking at track and trains together to a make full life cycle decisions to optimise the system, rather than just part of it.
Budgeting to give regions agility to redeploy funds while ensuring that the centre can move money between regions and have funds to invest work in new requirements.
Training programmes that provide the required new skills and encourage people to think differently, and personnel going around all parts of the industry to learn different things.
Better use of asset knowledge with properly integrated data pools to enable maintenance teams to plan and visualise what needs to be done.
Minimum Viable Product is not about buying cheap and nasty. It needs to be carefully defined to consider the whole life cycle.
Westlake concluded by extorting delegates to anticipate what the industry needs and make their proposals. He acknowledged that the enhancement pipeline may have dropped but wished to assure suppliers that there are sufficient funds to invest if they have a compelling case.
All in all, this conference was an informative and fascinating two days for which RIA is to be commended.
Image credit: David Shirres