UK: Ahead of the Conservative party conference on October 1-4 the Railway Industry Association has set out ‘key asks’ to provided clarity on the future of the rail industry, while trade unions have called for a High Speed 2 project summit.
Industry asks
Supply industry association RIA has called for the government to:
1 Include legislation for HS2 Phase 2 from Birmingham to Manchester in the forthcoming King’s Speech.
RIA says passenger numbers this year have regularly hit 100% of pre-Covid levels and are now 15% higher than the time when HS2 was approved. It says ’the country will need much more railway capacity in the future, and delivering the full HS2 scheme frees up significant capacity on the West Coast, Midland and East Coast main lines’.
2 Commit to investment pipeline certainty, and clarify which rail enhancement projects are going ahead.
Saying ‘certainty is the best way to keep costs down for taxpayers’, RIA believes the government needs to publish a visible pipeline of work, as ’repeatedly promised’ since 2019, and commit to delivering ‘transformational’ projects like Northern Powerhouse Rail and Midlands Rail Hub.
3 Deliver rail reform.
RIA says the government should ensure the Transport Bill enabling rail restructuring is included in the King’s Speech, and publish a plan for aspects of rail reform not requiring legislation.
4 Bring forward orders for low carbon rolling stock immediately.
The association warns that ’there is a real risk of jobs being lost and factories closed in the coming months without a smooth forward pipeline of new train and refurbishment work’.
Outlining its requests, RIA Chief Executive Darren Caplan said ’UK rail has the potential to help the government deliver on its agenda to grow the economy, boost jobs and skills, level-up and decarbonise. But to do this, it needs certainty about the structure of the railway industry and the work pipeline — both infrastructure and rolling stock related — for the months and years ahead.
‘There are real concerns currently about uncertainty on major projects, including HS2, new and refurbished train order books, and whether rail restructuring — which the government has been working on since 2018 — will actually be delivered. This is worrying, not just for rail suppliers, rail clients and customers — both passengers and freight — but it also damages the UK’s reputation for those who might want to invest in UK plc.’
Unions call for summit
Separately, the general secretaries of the Trades Union Congress and the ASLEF, GMB, RMT, TSSA and Unite unions have issued a joint call for ministers to convene an emergency summit which would bring together HS2 Ltd, contractors, trade unions and mayors to resolve issues around the future of the north-south high speed line.
The union leaders said ‘constant chopping and changing shows complete disregard for economic development, levelling up and any long-term planning’.
They warned that ‘axing the second leg of HS2 would further undermine confidence in the UK’s ability to undertake and complete large-scale infrastructure projects. There are no viable alternatives to resolve the capacity crisis on our railways — HS2 must go ahead in its entirety.’
