Opportunities for rail in a new industrial strategy for the UK…

By Simon Jones, Chief Executive of GCRE Ltd

Having worked for a few years as a civil servant, I know just how busy, exhilarating and excitedly stressful the first few days and weeks after an election can be.

For everyone settling in at the start of a government there are new relationships to be forged and early priorities to flesh out. For newly minted ministers there is the challenge of beginning to turn manifesto and campaign commitments into tangible delivery; for officials the task of getting to grips with new ministerial teams and – particularly after a change of party – a new style and a new approach to policy.

It’s true that there are reasons to feel anxious. Many of the major challenges that we face as a UK in 2024, such as achieving net zero or building a fairer economy, are ones that don’t naturally lend themselves to single lever solutions or quick wins. What will also be on minister’s minds is that at a time when the public spending outlook remains one of the most challenging in recent memory, major new sources of investment to kickstart new policy approaches are going to be hard to find. But I do hope that the new government team at Westminster, at both a ministerial and an official level, looks ahead with excitement at what might be possible.

One of the most interesting areas where the new UK Government is likely to make an early mark is in taking forward its commitment to a new industrial strategy for the UK. It offers up the chance for a bolder and more proactive approach to developing new and distinctive strength in the UK’s industrial economy, part of the mission-driven approach to growth the new Prime Minister and Chancellor have talked about in their first few days. I for one applaud that intent and believe that the rail industry and wider transport mobility sector are ones that can lean into that opportunity.

In key areas like train manufacturing, many respected voices in the industry, including the Rail Industry Association, have long said that government working more closely with the sector to provide greater assurance about the planning and funding of elements such as the pipeline of future rolling stock will have important benefits not just for the delivery of our net zero targets, but for protecting and attracting jobs and investment in and to the UK. In time, other supportive measures could be taken to further this opportunity, such as using procurement levers to ensure that all trains manufactured in the UK are maintained and tested in the UK, too.

But in particular, its rail innovation that I feel is one area where the new UK government has a unique opportunity to take early and positive steps as part of its new industrial strategy. I believe that the new government could consider staking out a bold policy ambition of establishing the UK as the world’s leading home for rail and mobility innovation – a place known internationally for not just product and technology innovation, but cutting edge standards and safety development – a place that leads the world in the development and practical delivery of tomorrow’s sustainable transport infrastructure.

That opportunity exists in part because of the fundamental strength of our rail innovation sector in the UK, but also because of the Global Centre of Rail Excellence.

As a 700-hectare site for rail and mobility research, testing and innovation, GCRE will be a facility quite unlike any other rail and mobility R&D centre. GCRE would plug the gap that has plagued the industry for many years as a single site home for rolling stock testing, infrastructure innovation and advanced product development, particularly at the highest technology readiness levels, something which has been one of the biggest structural barriers to faster rail innovation in the UK.

Source: Rail Engineer – a graph showing the gap in rail innovation

GCRE, by way of unique infrastructure not replicated anywhere in mainland Europe, combined with the new mobility R&D cluster we intend to host at our technology park, would become a magnet for companies, for investment, for exports and for innovation-led job creation off the back of the world class products and technologies being developed there. What makes GCRE significant and attractive to the new government as a part of its industrial strategy is the multi-dimensional impact the GCRE facility could have on communities, the economy and our path to 2050.

GCRE would help to:

• Re-build local prosperity as we are forecast to create more than 1,000 long-term jobs in a coalfield community impacted by more than four decades of de-industrialisation.

• Make transport better by becoming an internationally unique facility for proving innovation in rail and sustainable mobility at a time when the development of stronger greener and more affordable transport systems right across the world is so vital.

• Pioneer the UK’s first Net Zero railway powered from on-site renewables and largely constructed from reused or recycled materials, breaking new ground in the development of more sustainable infrastructure.

• And Renew an amazing place by regenerating a former coalfield site and stewarding its biodiversity to help establish an attractive destination for the community and visitors in a way that links its history with its bright future.

Such an approach would not only be economically profitable, but give us new soft power in the world. Establishing the UK as the leading place for rail research, testing and innovation – a place where the best minds on earth come to push the boundaries of new sustainable technologies and transformative new passenger technologies. The UK is already sought out by governments and manufacturers around the world because of its deep knowledge base in rail. As a nation we have not yet chosen to take strategic advantage of this leadership position, but now is the time to cement our global position in rail by clustering knowledge, new ideas and investment around the GCRE opportunity as part of a coherent industrial strategy.

What strikes me as particularly important about industrial strategy is that its critical to our economic future here in the UK. Many of the biggest nations on earth are already doing industrial strategy in very bold and vivid ways. The United States, through the CHIPS and Science Act, the Infrastructure Act and Inflation Reduction Act are embarking on one of the biggest ever investments in industrial technology and development in human history, seeking to use major structural changes such as net zero transition or the AI revolution as a chance to re-tool their economy and gain leading industrial positions in areas such as semi-conductors and sustainable energy technology development.

One of the questions industrial strategy will help us solve is what areas of the future will the UK lead the world in? Where will our unique strength come?

The lesson of the past is that diversification is key. We need a number of different areas in which we can earn our way in the world. But I believe very firmly that rail innovation and the benefits of a new cluster of innovators drawn to a world leading facility, backed up a coherent and supportive policy landscape, could be one of the areas where the UK and South Wales can lead the world. A place that no other country can match because of the core infrastructure, knowledge and skills that it has, which in turn attracts customers, investment and jobs – and regeneration.

Doing all this in an area about to go through the trauma of more than 2,800 job losses at the nearby Port Talbot steelworks and using rail innovation as a spark for an economic renaissance in the western South Wales valleys is an opportunity we can’t afford to miss. That’s why the new UK Government are right to seek out a more strategic approach to growth and to make industrial strategy a key part of that approach, working in collaboration with partners like the Welsh Government, which originally developed the creative GCRE concept.

In these febrile times, re-building confidence of people and communities can only come through re-building prosperity and developing genuinely sustainable economies that work, in every part of the UK – finding ways for communities to build a viable economic future for themselves with pride and with dignity.

It’s something rail can play a big part in helping the UK government to achieve – and GCRE could be an important part of that story.