Shadow Minister for International Trade visits Global Centre for Rail Excellence and pledges support

Listen to this article

Shadow Minister for International Trade Dame Nia Griffith MP has pledged her support to the Global Centre for Rail Excellence (GCRE) in South Wales, a proposed railway infrastructure and technology testing facility, following a visit as part of the Railway Industry Association’s Rail Fellowship Programme.

Griffith and the Neath constituency MP Christina Rees were given a tour of the site in a Land Rover to observe the scale of the development, travelling up and down the rugged terrain with engineers on hand to describe the works underway.

The Shadow Minister for International Trade also met with the GCRE CEO Simon Jones, and RIA’s Exports Director Neil Walker, to discuss the export potential of GCRE and the wider rail supply sector. When it opens in 2025, GCRE will be a facility providing world class research, testing and certification of rolling stock, infrastructure and innovative new technologies that will fill a strategic gap not just in UK rail, but across Europe. The site will bolster the UK’s competitive strengths in the rail supply sector and improve efficiency and innovation on the railway.

The Rail Fellowship Programme matches politicians to rail sites relevant to their brief or in their constituency and the visits help bring the sector to life by providing them with a hands-on experience provided by a rail supplier business. Since its launch in 2018, the RIA Rail Fellowship Programme has grown rapidly, with 36 parliamentarians taking part in total. And there is now a waiting list of MPs interested in taking part. 

Shadow Minister for International Trade, Dame Nia Griffith MP, said: “GCRE is a unique and impressive site, which will bring investment and jobs to the local South Wales economy and beyond. Rail is also an important export market for the UK and I’m very pleased to see our communities involved as part of its future.

“Thank you to the GCRE team for hosting us and to the Railway Industry Association for inviting me to join their Rail Fellowship Programme – visits like these really do help highlight the fantastic work of the supply chain.” 

Simon Jones, GCRE CEO, said: “The Global Centre of Rail Excellence is one of the most significant infrastructure projects in European rail today and so we were truly delighted to showcase our plans to Dame Nia Griffith.

“We look forward to bringing future RIA fellows to the site as it progresses  to demonstrate the importance of having a high quality innovation facility such as this in the UK.”

Neil Walker, Exports Director of the Railway Industry Association (RIA), said: “The UK railway supply chain and RIA member companies play a vital part in UK exports and GCRE is a fantastic example of the innovation taking place in the sector.

“We’d like to thank the Shadow Minister for International Trade, Dame Nia Griffith, for highlighting this in her visit to the site.”

“The RIA Rail Fellowship programme exists to showcase the railway industry to politicians, and we were thrilled to welcome both Dame Nia Griffith and existing Fellow Christina Rees to RIA members GCRE. Thanks to both of them for working with us to showcase the value and potential of the rail supply community.”

Latest Rail News

Network Rail and the Railway Children raise over £130,000 to help vulnerable children

Network Rail has teamed up with the charity Railway Children to host a fifth annual sleepout event in railway...

More like this...