UK Railway Industry Association makes urgent call for sight of plans

The UK’s Railway Industry Association, which represents suppliers and experts, has called on the London government to urgently publish a Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline (RNEP) plan.

The organisation said such a plan should be published each year to give confidence to the sector and to ensure investment remains attractive.

The last RNEP was published by the previous administration in Downing St in 2019 along with a commitment (since broken) to publish updates annually.

RIA Chief Executive Darren Caplan explained the need for sight of such a plan.

“Suppliers need visibility of the Government’s future plans to invest with confidence. Five years is a long time to have no visible pipeline for rail enhancements not least because roughly $2bn per year of taxpayer money was allocated for these rail projects.”

Along with Transport Secretary Louise Haigh, who is directly responsible for any forthcoming RNEP, Caplan suggested Finance Minister (officially known as Chancellor of the Exchequer) Rachel Reeves should include such plans in her upcoming annual budget.