The Rail Industry Association’s response to IRP

Darren Caplan, the chief executive of the Rail Industry Association (RIA), the trade body representing more than 300 rail companies, responded to the publication of the IRP, saying: “The railway industry will welcome the end of the uncertainty surrounding the Integrated Rail Plan, now it’s been published. Many of them have been preparing over the last few years to deliver the projects contained within it, and whether individual schemes have been scrapped, amended or given the green light, at least we all now know the Government’s thinking.

“It is positive to see confirmation of some local and regional rail projects within the plan – throughout the North and Midlands – and the speed at which the Government aims to deliver them. Many rail businesses will look forward to working on these. However, it is difficult to see this IRP as anything other than a piecemeal approach to national strategic railway infrastructure development, given the abandonment of HS2 Eastern Leg and the scaling back of Northern Powerhouse Rail.

“We must all recognise the short to medium-term impact of the Coronavirus pandemic on the UK and its economy, and welcome the fact that the Government will invest significant sums in rail around the country. Yet it was only last year that Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the Cabinet publicly supported delivering the HS2 scheme in full, given the capacity, connectivity and economic benefits it brings.

“Even if the Government claims in the IRP it can deliver benefits more quickly with upgrades to the current network, how certain can the railway industry be that the IRP will actually be delivered, given what’s happened to the previous plan? “Whatever schemes do proceed, RIA and our members will work with the Government to take forward whichever projects do go ahead.”