The Railway Industry Association

The Railway Industry Association (RIA) champions a dynamic UK rail supply sector. We help to grow a sustainable, and high-performing railway as well as promoting UK rail expertise and products to international markets.

Rail is key to UK economic growth, supporting both sustainable investment and jobs in cities, towns, and communities across the UK. For every £1 in the rail transport system, over £2.50 of value is generated in the wider economy. The railway industry contributes £41 billion in economic value and £14 billion in tax revenue each year, as well as supporting over 640,000 jobs throughout the UK. For every job in rail, a further four jobs is supported elsewhere in the UK economy. Every job in the rail supply chain is 29% more productive than the UK average, reflecting highly-skilled jobs in the sector,

RIA has over 400 companies in membership, active across the whole of the rail supply sector and covering a diverse range of products and services, including both multinational companies and SMEs (60% by number). www.riagb.org.uk

 

  • The Railway Industry Association has supported the Big Rail Diversity Challenge every year since 2017, because we believe it is a fun way to promote an important point. That for UK rail to be at its best, its workforce needs to be genuinely equal, diverse and inclusive.

    Both existing railway professionals and future trailblazers need to work together, to ensure we have a talent pool which includes the widest mix of people and skills for rail employers to work with and choose from – which is represented at the BRDC. This agenda is not just a nice to have – rail faces a skills shortage, so we need to celebrate the opportunities rail offers and attract the next generation of talent. Rail offers a diverse range of careers, all over the country and globally – from customer service to engineering, technology and project delivery; and it is at the cutting edge of some of the most important agendas of our time including zero carbon travel, digital transformation, and customer service.

    So RIA and Women in Rail – now celebrating over 10 years – launched a joint EDI Charter for rail in November 2020, as a positive campaign to increase the diversity of the talent and skills pipeline, and to promote an inclusive culture within organisations. The EDI Charter is not prescriptive: it focuses on what signatories can do rather than what they are not doing.

    We now have over 200 organisations committed to the Charter, and there are more coming on board regularly. If anyone reading this wants to discuss signing their organisation up to the Charter, please do get in touch, at info@edicharter.co.uk. In the meantime, let battle commence at the BRDC!

Visit The Railway Industry Association website