RIA welcome announcement of £1.7 billion UK-Turkey rail deal

Credit: RIA

The Railway Industry Association (RIA), the voice of the UK rail supply community, has welcomed the announcement of a £1.7 billion deal for the construction of a 503km high-speed electric railway in Turkey, with funding guaranteed by UK Export Finance.

RIA supported the deal by working closely with ERG International UK, the engineering, construction and project management contractor for major infrastructure assets, over a period of time, providing overviews of both the railway industry and RIA member capability, and connecting them with supplier companies, whom they had identified as meeting their initial requirements.

ERG International UK approached RIA in October 2020 asking for support to understand UK industry capability in the areas of superstructures, electrification and signalling. Over a period of months, RIA connected them with member and industry companies at a senior level, whom they had identified as meeting their initial requirements.

“This is clearly a significant boost for both the UK railway industry, showing it has world-leading products and expertise which can export across the globe, and for the wider Global Britain agenda,” Neil Walker, Exports Director at the Railway Industry Association, said. “RIA is proud to have played a part, helping ERG to source UK rail suppliers who will be vital to building this ground-breaking, sustainable, transport project. We should also acknowledge and thank colleagues in the Department for International Trade and at UK Export Finance, for their ongoing support for rail exporters, and we look forward to continuing to work with them, to promote UK rail businesses to partners overseas.”