Peer review: Terence Watson
UK Country President and Transport
Managing Director - UK & Ireland, Alstom.
Rail Supply Group Co-chairman
Hang around politicians long enough, and one of them will eventually tell you that we are now in a ‘golden age of rail’. It’s hard to dispute that - the investment, commitment and momentum to rebuild Britain on the back of its railways has never been greater.
But we have to be wary of complacency. While it’s tempting to believe that “It doesn’t appear that the tap of investment will be turned off any time soon”, we must not forget that come the summer we will have a spending review and a new phase of austerity drives.
In fact, with the Treasury challenging government departments to come up with budgets that offer up to 40% cuts, it’s hard to see how Transport will emerge unscathed, especially as budgets for Education, Defence and Health Care are effectively ring-fenced.
The money men should be warned. Rail is no longer just about moving people and freight, but about moving Britain’s economy forward. We therefore applaud the fact that it is at the heart of all parties’ plans for economic recovery. Indeed, the railway is increasingly being recognised as a key industry for Britain’s strategic economic growth - and the creation of the Rail Supply Group is testament to that.
The Rail Supply Group, working with other bodies such as RIA, the RDG, the RFG, as well as government departments BIS and DfT, are working together to help the whole industry deliver a cohesive approach to this massive challenge. It will help us to develop the local supply chain to support growth.
The opportunities are clear. Increased political focus on the railways in recent years has brought many benefits. Without political will, we wouldn’t have seen such great commitment to Crossrail, or the expansion of the London Underground. And while HS2 still has a few more barriers to overcome, it is still Britain’s “Biggest Idea” on transport policy.
But with political support comes greater risk, and that is something Britain’s supply chain cannot afford. The domestic boom and bust cycle won’t let British entrepreneurs do what they do best - export to other markets, then grow, then provide jobs and skills.
This isn’t just of importance for the railways - it will be impossible for the Government to meet its National Infrastructure Plan if it doesn’t deliver on rail. So regardless of the party or their policy, I would like to make the following recommendations:
Firstly, please don’t change things for change’s sake. We need stability. We cannot survive if investment profiles are volatile.
Secondly, the pace of investment on the ground needs to speed up. We’re losing ground with competitors overseas and failing to support our supply chain as a result. So far, only around a fifth of the projects in the National Infrastructure Plan have shovels in the ground.
Finally - while all parties agree rail is a strategic industry, the policy framework around it is still too weak. The rail supply chain can deliver jobs, skills, investment, exports and more. But we can only do it if there is a clear pipeline of projects on a stable timeline, with supportive policies for R&D, apprenticeships and a clear export strategy.
The post-election 2015 spending review will be a nail-biting moment for many in the rail industry, and whispers of nationalisation in response to the occasional failure of the railway to meet expectations will give the rail community’s columnists plenty to speculate about. But the industry and the public will not judge politicians on soundbites, glossy manifestos and headlines. There is only one metric that matters: delivery. While the UK is top of the league for innovative policy thinking, we remain towards the bottom of league for delivery. That’s why, despite being the fifth largest economy we are 27th in the world for quality of infrastructure.
One of the greatest challenges for the next Government is to break that pattern. To misquote Tony Blair, the next Prime Minister should have three priorities: delivery, delivery, delivery.
So despite the fact that the British railway system sometimes fails us, it is important that we keep up the momentum. The massive passenger growth that we see today proves that rail is still the best way to move about the country, nearly 200 years after its invention.
There might be further to go, but we need a stable policy environment to get there. Then we will have a truly sustainable golden age of rail.
