Stop & Examine

RAIL 918 carried extensive coverage of the important Railway Industry Association annual conference, held virtually because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

RAIL contributor and BBC Transport Correspondent Paul Clifton presented the conference, and offers an insight into how the many logistical challenges were overcome to ensure that everything was ‘alright on the night’.

“It’s said the wheels of change grind slowly on the railway. Not always. I was asked to present the Railway Industry Association annual conference from November 4- 6. These things take many months to organise. But four days before the event started, the Prime Minister announced a second lockdown.

“Cancelling the conference would have been the easy choice, perhaps even the obvious one. But instead, the plans were turned upside down. Suddenly my home had to become a makeshift studio - hurriedly COVID-secure, so that a technical crew could move in.