Railway industry responds to Prime Minister’s recovery plan speech
1 min read
Today the Prime Minister announced his plans to speed up infrastructure investment to ensure an economic recovery following the Coronavirus outbreak.
Darren Caplan, Chief Executive of the Railway Industry Association (RIA), said: “The Prime Minister’s speech today urged the UK to ‘build, build, build’ to ensure an economic recovery following the Coronavirus outbreak. and it was good to see plans to unblock the Manchester bottleneck mentioned. However, whilst the speech set the right tone, railway suppliers will be disappointed by the lack of specific new rail projects the Government plans to speed up.
“The railway industry will play a key role to play in any economic recovery, and so we urge the Government to announce in the coming weeks a clear pipeline of accelerated work it will support across the country to deliver economic growth, investment and jobs. Suppliers need to see specific schemes with delivery timelines so they can plan and build their project teams, delivering a world-class rail network which benefits not just rail but UK plc more widely, its economy and long-term connectivity.”
