Welcome to the December 2024 issue of our e-newsletter where you can read about industry events and publications as well as activities that the Rail Cluster project is leading or supporting.

New members
A warm welcome to new members of the Rail Cluster this month:

• Saludoze Hotels Ltd
• RX Watt
• Corlow Rail
• AIM Engineering and Fabrication
• James Walker Devol
• Charcroft Electronics Ltd
• Donnelly Rail Systems Limited
• ITCC Limited

• 704 registered individuals
• 498 registered companies
• 304 registered SMEs

As 2024 comes to a close, we want to express our sincere thanks for your support throughout the year. We are looking forward to seeing what opportunities the new year will bring for our community.

Wishing you a wonderful break and a fantastic 2025!

Best wishes,

Rail Cluster team

We know our members are experts in their field, each bringing unique insights and valuable experience to the rail sector. We’d like to give you an opportunity to share your knowledge and raise your profile by contributing a blog post to our community.

Your expertise can support fellow members, spark new ideas, and increase awareness of the work you’re doing in the sector. Whether it’s best practice, lessons learned, or emerging solutions, your perspective could make a real impact. Your blog would be published on our website and shared with our mailing list and LinkedIn followers.

If you’re interested in publishing a blog, please reach out to us. Let’s highlight the talent within our cluster and keep our community at the forefront of innovation.

Don’t forget, as a member of the Rail Cluster you have the opportunity to host a Cluster Networking Event at your site to meet other members, share best practice and showcase your business and its capabilities directly to the sector.

We will work with you to promote the event, manage registrations and send out joining instructions and we can help in whatever way you need to maximise the value you get from hosting an event.

The benefits of hosting a cluster networking event are far reaching:

• Better understanding of your company and its capabilities for the sector
• Showcase new products and services
• Raise your business profile
• Showcase your local facilities
• Share best practice
• Network with other members and build relationships

The Scottish Government announced today (17th December) that procurement will begin to replace the trains in its Intercity fleet.

The procurement will seek a replacement for the High Speed Train (HST) fleet of 25 trains which operates on its InterCity routes between Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, and Inverness.

Further details on this announcement will be shared when the contract is awarded in 2025. It is also expected that the refreshed Decarbonisation Action Plan will be published in Spring 2025, and this will detail updated targets for replacing ScotRail’s existing diesel fleets.

The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) have published their annual compendium publication which contains a summary of the statistical releases published by ORR covering April 2023 to March 2024.
 
A a range of industry bodies including Network Rail, passenger and freight operators and Department for Transport contributed to the data.

The European Railway Clusters Initiative (ERCI) gathered industry leaders, innovators, and stakeholders for the highly anticipated 10th ERCI Innovation Awards 2024 and the ERCI Achievement Award 2024 ceremonies. These awards continue to showcase groundbreaking advancements and honour outstanding contributions to the railway and mobility sectors.

The 10th ERCI Innovation Awards 2024
Held as the pinnacle event of the year, the ERCI Innovation Awards spotlight companies pushing the boundaries of technology, sustainability, and efficiency in rail transport. This year’s winners exemplify the spirit of innovation that drives the sector forward:

• Best Small and Medium-sized Enterprise:

• Best Large Enterprise:

• Coup de Cœur Award:

Network Rail has updated and refreshed key resources for SMEs keen to work with it and its delivery partners.

The infrastructure manager has updated its ‘Information for SMEs’ webpage, adding links to a recently-refreshed SME supplier guide and key delivery partners map.

It also has a Procurement page, which includes a detailed procurement pipeline which shares future procurement requirements.

Challenge Statements
Network Rail also has a page dedicated to Challenge Statements – each challenge statement details a specific business obstacle and provides detail on definition, root cause analysis, priority areas of focus and a section outlining guidance for research and development.

See the current challenges here.

Each year, railway organisations across the industry contribute by submitting their workforce data on demographics, job roles and work locations. The survey helps NSAR build the most complete and accurate representation of the UK rail workforce.

The headline findings are that skills shortages remain a major issue for the rail industry. The workforce has decreased by 9.4 over the last year and is facing a critical loss of experience and knowledge – the number of people leaving through retirement and other forms of attrition could be 90,000 workers by 2030. While proportions are improving, rail remains a male-dominated industry with lower numbers of people from ethnic minority backgrounds than national averages.

Addressing skills shortages and improving diversity provides large economic and social value opportunities. The report models these figures and provides recommendations to support the industry in achieving its goals.

Richard Cairns, Chairperson of Scottish Rail Holdings Ltd, addressed the recent Unlocking Innovation event in Glasgow, organised jointly by the Railway Industry Association and Network Rail. In his keynote speech, he explained what he feels the railway needs to do to meet its obligations, and what form innovation should take.

A two-year research project by the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) has led to creation of an ambitious new strategy to help the rail industry improve workforce health and wellbeing through data insights and evidence. A data-driven, evidence-based approach is being used, informed by a comprehensive strategy outlining short, medium, and long-term objectives.
Evidence shows the rail industry’s sickness absence is double the national average, costing millions in lost workdays every year. In response, RSSB piloted the collection of employee health and wellbeing data with 21 companies across England and Wales, covering over 100,000 rail workers (approximately half the workforce). Data was collected on 20 key performance indicators, including:

• sickness absence
• COVID-19
• health surveillance
• Employee Assistance Programme use
• drug and alcohol testing
• demographics

Connected Places Catapult, the UK’s innovation accelerator for cities, transport, and place leadership, has announced the opening of applications for the Enhancing Passenger Experience – AI in Transport Competition, a new competition that supports the Government’s vision for an Integrated National Transport Strategy published last month.

Delivered by the Catapult on behalf of the Department for Transport (DfT), the competition is setting out to identify and support small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with innovative AI-powered solutions that can address key challenges in transport.

The competition will make a total of up to £89,000 available to innovators through DfT’s Grant Funding Agreement with the Catapult. Alongside the funding element, business support, government collaboration and networking opportunities with senior transport stakeholders will be provided throughout this programme.

Prospective applicants have until 17:00 on 20 December 2024 to apply via Connected Places Catapult’s website.

In this ERCI webinar, you will learn about the revolutionary proposal made by FERRMED to manage freight trains to achieve the 30% of terrestrial goods move by train by 2030.

FERRMED. – a member of in-move by Railgrup – FERRMED is a non-profit multisectoral Association that was founded by the private sector in Brussels on 5 August 2004 to improve rail freight transportation and industrial competitiveness in Europe and neighboring countries.

FERRMED is promoting the implementation of common technical railway standards, the so-called “FERRMED Standards”, the improvement of the connections of Ports and Airports with their respective hinterlands, the Full FERRMED Corridors achievement (for freight, considering only the most important part of the EU Railway Core Network) and the conception of a Great Rail Freight Axis Scandinavia-Rhine-Rhone-Western Mediterranean.