The Railway Industry Association (RIA), the voice of the rail supply community, has today welcomed two recent tenders for rolling stock; up to 70 new or refurbished multiple units for Chiltern Railways and 450 new multiple units for Northern Trains.
This comes following a recent RIA report, The UK Rolling Stock Industry: Making 2023 the year of opportunity not crisis, which highlighted the risks to the UK supply chain if orders for new rolling stock were not forthcoming.
Both tenders highlight the need for flexible low carbon rolling stock which will enable the creativity of the supply chain to develop future proof designs, improving the railway’s offering both for environmental sustainability and passenger experience. This chimes with RIA’s #RailDecarb23 campaign, which urges the Government to accelerate plans for rail decarbonisation.
David Clarke, RIA’s Technical Director, said: “With a recent RIA report calling on the Government to take urgent decisions around rolling stock, we naturally welcome these two significant tenders of up to 520 low carbon multiple units.
“The industry and whole country will continue to benefit from these rolling stock orders as they will result not just in improved passenger experience, but also help to retain valuable jobs, generate economic growth, reduce emissions and improve air quality.
“These tenders demonstrate a strong commitment to the future of the supply chain, resulting in a significant strengthening of the pipeline of work which will deliver modern trains equipped with cleaner technologies. However, it is important to recognise however that this volume of orders is needed annually for the supply chain to be able to permanently break out of the historic boom and bust cycle.”
Image credit: RIA / shutterstock
