RIA Scotland Rail Summit

In the spirit of cross-industry collaboration, Martin Bignell, RFG’s Scotland and North of England representative, joined the Railway Industry Association (RIA) at their Scotland Rail Summit in Edinburgh on September 3rd. RIA members largely consist of the rail supply chain, from systems and signalling and OLE engineering companies, to specialists in data, groundworks and myriad support services. In a packed agenda themes familiar to RFG members were discussed, including the importance of innovation, skills and the confidence needed from Government commitment to the sector to maintain a clear, long term pipeline of investments to plan against.

Against a backdrop of the Scottish Finance Secretary setting out £500m of funding cuts on the same day, Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Fiona Hyslop gave an upbeat presentation about the Government’s ambition for rail, including announcing that approval had been given to Scotrail to initiate procurement of a new fleet of high speed intercity trains to replace the Class 43 HSTs that have been connecting Scotland’s cities.

The Cabinet Secretary acknowledged that despite the fiscal challenges, CP7 and the current year’s £1.6b funding allocation within that is fully funded. The Cabinet Secretary’s expectation from the Industry and its supply chain is to deliver a reliable network, noting that this was especially important for rail freight. She emphasised that she wants to see more freight moving by rail and had recently visited the Highland Spring terminal at Blackford, operated by JG Russell.

The underlying message from the Cabinet Secretary and other speakers was that efficiency and value for money on project delivery is more important than ever. Collaboration within the industry is critical to drive more value from the money being invested. The Cabinet Secretary wanted to see more innovation, better ways of working and, when pressed on what more the industry could do to help make the case for rail, identified that the industry needs to ensure it is identifying and talking about all the benefits of investing in rail. Ultimately, Government is answerable to taxpayers, and the point was made that investment in transport often comes behind public desire for investment in education, housing, health and other demands. Business cases and arguments need to be expressed in terms of the visible benefits the public, parliamentarians and decision makers can relate to; jobs, economic contribution, climate, environmental and social impact, growing the workforce, skills development, local impact and local supply chain benefits. Public spending is increasingly being measured and prioritised on delivery of these wider impacts.

In a sign of an encouraging thaw in cross border political cooperation, the Cabinet Secretary noted she had met with the new Labour Transport Minister Louise Haigh recently and welcomed the direction of the new Bill to bring DfT franchised passenger rail services into public ownership, with recommendation for the Scottish Government to support it. Naturally, the Cabinet Secretary had also made clear that the Scottish Government would resist any erosion of Scottish powers in regard the railway or efforts to centralise it away from Scotland.

Among the other speakers, Professor Iain Docherty of Stirling University identified that the rail industry had done quite well from public investment, especially through Covid, compared to other transport modes but highlighted that it also compares poorly with what it has delivered. The expectation was that over the mid term there will be increasing public scrutiny on what outcomes are being delivered for the investment so it is incumbent on the industry to drive efficiency and demonstrate value for money. He noted freight is one of the biggest growing sectors, but that although hard, was one with strong growth potential if the product offer is right.

As a takeaway, Richard Cairns, Chair of the Scottish Rail Holdings Board, made it clear several times that what he wanted to see was quite simple. More People and Freight, on More Trains, More often. In a room with little direct freight representation, it was encouraging to see and hear many speakers recognise that delivering a rail infrastructure that supports rail freight is an important objective.

By RFG’s Martin Bignell