RIA London & South Summit

Wayne Butcher FCA MCMI ChMC and I had the pleasure of attending the Railway Industry Association 's (RIA) London and South Rail Summit, hosted at Ricardo plc 's Innovation Centre in Shoreham-by-Sea the other week. It was a fantastic event and venue, attracting speakers and attendees from across the railway industry's leaders. Harry Shackleton from Inflect Partners began the day with an insightful political update to get us all up to speed which included relevant topics such as Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) and the 'devolution desert' in the south.

We then heard valuable client updates from Transport for the South East, Network Rail Southern and Transport for London (TfL).

Rupert Clubb from Transport for the South East gave an update on their strategy to 2050 which included consideration of funding and financing challenges, rail connectivity challenges, the opportunities for decarbonisation and reliable and resilient routes.

Mark Killick , Director of Engineering and Asset Management and Southern Renewals Enterprise (SRE) Capable Owner, Network Rail Southern, gave an insight into Network Rail Southern's goals and SRE. Key goals include 75% of trains on time, doubling external investment and 75% engagement. SRE was born out of Control Period 7 (CP7) with its goal to bring people together to renew the railway for a sustainable future. It will run to Control Period (CP8) with three key components including capable owners, Southern Integrated Delivery (SID) partners and ecosystems.?

TfL's Head of Open Innovation, Theo Haughton , spoke about the backlog of asset investment needed across the TfL network, particularly for the Bakerloo Line, Central Line and DLR, and the need for TfL to have long term funding certainty.

During lunch Ricardo organised tours of their site, including a fascinating peek at their market-leading hydrogen fuel cells which have been designed to be tested on cruise ships as a more environmentally friendly alternative to diesel.

The afternoon started with a panel on "The Future of Rail and Innovation in London & South" with representatives from SRE, Network Rail and the University of Southampton. The discussion focussed on three key areas, strategic vision, innovation and efficiency. In terms of strategic vision, the challenge of affordability and alignment with the UK publics' outcomes was discussed, along with the responsibility of SRE. The discussion on innovation touched on the need for climate adaptation for the railway with the increase in extreme weather, and the role that data and digitalisation can have in innovation. The efficiency discussion centred around SRE's two key drivers of efficiency, which are utilisation of management, labour and plant, and collaboration which removes barriers for organisations.

Alessandra Coda , Principal Consultant at Metro Dynamics, presented an interesting case study on Euston Station focussing on regeneration and financial opportunities. Alessandra noted the challenges in terms of planning regulations and restrictions on developments in this area but also the importance of regeneration for the area in terms of UK growth, connecting opportunities and inclusive placemaking. There was the successful use of land value uplift, business rates and tax incremental financing (TIF) funding mechanisms to maximise the local benefits to Camden.

The day ended with a panel discussion on "Powering regeneration: new funding and financing approaches for infrastructure", with representatives from Transport for the South East, RIA, Metro Dynamics and Grant Thornton's Wayne Butcher, Director of Public Services Advisory. The panel centred around how we can be more innovative with the use of funding mechanisms and how we can attract private sector investment. Wayne explained how private sector investors want to see certainty, in terms of ambition and pace and momentum, and deliverability. One of the big challenges for the South East is housing, there is the potential for development to be infrastructure led but this requires devolution. There is also the challenge of funding certainty and the need for a longer-term funding settlement, which in turn can help the private sector in de-risking infrastructure investments.

?Key takeaways we want to use for infrastructure projects going forward include:

1. Ensuring the exploration of all possible funding mechanisms to maximise funding available for infrastructure projects.
2. Consideration of how we can de-risk private sector investment in infrastructure.