Fresh business opportunities and potential new jobs will be unlocked for the UK’s rail industry thanks to a new partnership signed by the Transport Secretary with Israel today (24 August).
A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) has been signed by the two countries to share expertise on large scale rail projects, following the successful launch of the UK’s Elizabeth Line earlier this year.
The benefits of the state-of-the-art line will be extended overseas, through the Department for Transport’s Crossrail International advisory company. This follows the introduction of the Elizabeth Line, which slashed fares by over a third for commuters across London and massively reduced journey times. The project is also estimated to pump £42 billion into the UK economy and has created more than 55,000 jobs and 1,000 apprenticeships while expanding central London’s rail capacity by 10%.
It is now hoped business opportunities with Israel, the UK’s third biggest transport goods trading partner, will not only enable firms to share valuable expertise, but boost economic growth and could lead to more jobs being created.
In July, the UK launched negotiations with Israel to upgrade the current trade deal, currently worth £5 billion and supports 6,600 UK businesses. The upgraded agreement would establish a modern, revamped trading relationship between two of the world’s services superpowers. This includes seeking improved access to major public sector contracts for UK businesses and boosting opportunities for the services sector.
In 2021 alone, the UK imported £144m of transportation services from Israel, highlighting the close relationship between our two nations.
As part of the Transport Secretary’s visit to Israel this week, he has visited the building site of Tel Aviv’s new light rail line and met with the Israeli Transport Minister Merav Michaeli.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said: “Today’s partnership further ingrains our commitment to a global Britain, helping our world-leading rail industry to extend its expertise to friends overseas, while unlocking fresh business opportunities to boost the UK economy.
“Following the successful launch of our iconic Elizabeth Line earlier this year, this memorandum is a fantastic opportunity for our British engineers and advisors to share their ingenuity with Israel as they undertake their largest ever rail project in Tel Aviv.
“It was a pleasure to visit the project site this week to see first-hand the ongoing work to build such a revolutionary transport hub which will help millions of passengers get from A to B quicker, easier and more sustainably.”
Image credit: istockphoto.com
