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RAILWAY INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION
Railway Industry Association (RIA) will be celebrating its sesquicentennial anniversary next year. It is marking the occasion with the RIA 150 Celebration next year
150 years of championing the UK railway industry
The RIA team pictured at this year’s Innovation Conference in Wales
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IA has grown, developed, and evolved quite significantly since it was first established in 1875. One thing that hasn’t changed is the passion of its people in representing UK-based suppliers to the railway industry and being the voice of the UK rail supply community, helping to grow a sustainable, highperforming railway supply industry. “RIA has more than 360 companies in membership in a sector that contributes £43 billion in economic growth and £14 billion in tax revenue each year, as well as employing 710,000 people,” explained RIA Chief Executive Darren Caplan. “It is also a vital industry for the UK’s economic recovery, supporting green investment and jobs in towns and communities across the UK; for every £1 spent in rail, £2.50 is generated in the wider economy. “RIA’s membership is active across the whole of railway supply, covering a diverse range of products and services and including both multi-national
companies and SMEs (60 per cent by number). It is an incredible milestone to be celebrating 150 years of representing and campaigning for the UK rail supply community and we are looking ahead to an exciting future for the industry as rail passengers and freight levels grow in the years ahead.” Something that has remained true throughout the 150 years of the organisation has been its success in campaigning for and representing the interests of the industry and its supply chain. That stems from day one, when in 1875, major manufacturers met and agreed to pursue legal action against the London & North Western Railway, which was supplying Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&YR) with locomotives despite a potential amalgamation of the two companies earlier being rejected by Parliament. On June 4, 1875, they set up the Locomotion Manufacturer’s Association to protect the interests of the locomotive builders and Ephraim Hutchings
June 2024
was appointed the first Secretary of the Association. A High Court injunction on the London & North Western Railway was obtained on 16 December 1875, and between 1877 and 1880 the association fought a number of legal disputes to prohibit the manufacturing of locomotives by railway companies, unless explicitly stated. This only changed in 1968 when the Transport Act allowed railway workshops to manufacture equipment. In 1957 the organisation became known as the Locomotive and Allied Manufacturers Association, after its membership was expanded to not only be open to the builders of complete locomotives, but also those companies in the lower tiers of the supply chain. In 1971, the organisation took on its present title – the Railway Industry Association – as its membership broadened to include companies involved in the provision of infrastructure for rail. As RIA has welcomed a wider membership, its services and offerings have continued to develop,