“Are you proud to work in the railway?” asked HIRD Group Business Growth Director Lucy Prior to a sea of raised hands at Rail Live 2024.
Prior and Rail Forum Chief Executive Officer Elaine Clark were addressing delegates on day one of the 2024 event, held on June 19-20.
Reflecting a widely held sentiment within the railway, however, Clarke argued that “listening to the industry, there is a sense of frustration that not much is changing and if it is, it’s not quick enough”.
They were among the opening speakers drawn from across the industry for RAIL’s premier industry show.
In the same wide-ranging session on making the railway sustainable, AtkinsReĢalis Technical Director Caspar Lucas argued that a lack of electrification should not be a hindrance to introducing trains that could be converted to fully-electric operation at a later date.
“Modal shift also has a safety benefit,” he pointed out.
Once more held at Porterbrook’s Long Marston Rail Innovation Centre, the UK’s leading outdoor railway show again brings together innovative equipment, leading debate and networking in a live railway environment. It is again expected to be a record-breaking event.
Rolling stock at this year’s Rail Live include a Class 93 tri-mode locomotive (courtesy of Rail Operations Group and Stadler), a Porterbook HydroFLEX and Network Rail’s Mobile Maintenance Train. The latter is displayed for visitors to enter, in the infrastructure’s dedicated ‘village’ area of the event.
With General Election ‘purdah’ having enforced changes to the original line-up of speakers, delegates are instead treated to a focused set of industry-related topics in Rail Live’s two dedicated theatres: Policy & Leadership and Engineering.
Visitors can look forward to talks by ASLEF General Secretary Mick Whelan and a delegation from Ukrainian Railways on day two.
Other highlights across the two days include sessions on safety (with RSSB Chief Operating Officer Johnny Schute), recruitment and retention, and engineering lessons from High Speed 2.
This year, Rail Live included a number of innovations, such as the hosting of a Business Lounge for the first time. The lounge was sponsored by Dura Composites, which also had a display of its modular products such as the Dura Platform and composite canopy daggerboards.
Official charity partner at the 2024 show was the Railway Children, which works to support vulnerable young people in both the UK and overseas.
The Rail Live dates for 2025 – coinciding with a year of ‘Railway 200’ bicentenary celebrations - have already been announced: June 18/19. See raillive.org.uk.
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