Did you know that 33% of our members are involved in manufacturing here in the UK? This provides a wealth of products and processes that can be used to support the national rail network and presents strong export opportunities.
Our Manufacturing Workstream, launched in May 2024, seeks to support manufacturing and shine a spotlight on to this important local capability and this page gives you details of what that activity looks like as well as introducing our Manufacturing Partner for 2024-2025, and our Manufacturing Steering Group.
Keep checking back for new activities as the year progresses…
UK Rail Manufacturing Capability Brochures
Our UK Rail Manufacturing Capability brochure showcases the breadth, innovation, and strength of the UK’s rail manufacturing sector.
The inaugural edition highlighted the diverse capabilities of our members and their vital contribution to the domestic and global rail supply chain. Building on that success, the second edition—launched in May 2025—features an expanded collection of 81 member case studies, reflecting the growing momentum, expertise, and collaboration within the industry. Both editions are designed to connect businesses, promote UK capabilities, and support growth across the sector.
Explore the brochures below to discover the exceptional talent and innovation driving UK rail manufacturing forward.
1st Edition
2nd Edition
Make UK - Manufacturing Dinner and Expo 2025 at Hardwick Hall (Stockton)
The day started with a welcome speech from Stephen Phipson CBE, Chief Executive of Make UK. He shared his views on the Industrial Strategy due to be released on Monday, expressing hope that it will be successful and span at least 10 years to enable real investment in UK manufacturing. However, he also raised concerns about UK energy costs, which are the highest in the world and are driving up overall manufacturing costs.
There were three sessions throughout the day:
Session 1 – Practical Adoption of AI: Transforming Manufacturing
Panellists shared their experiences of adopting AI and how it is helping to improve efficiency within their manufacturing processes.
Session 2 – Workforce Management and the Skills Gap
Panellists discussed their challenges with skills gaps and the measures they have put in place to attract and retain apprentices. There was general agreement that apprenticeships need to be better advertised and more centrally accessible. The message was clear: manufacturing should be positioned as an attractive sector to work in, offering good wages, incentives, and a safe environment.
Session 3 – Manufacturing Made Smarter
Panellists outlined the impact of investment and training funding from Made Smarter, explaining how this support had increased their efficiencies and ultimately benefited their businesses.
In summary, it was a good expo with lots of valuable discussions (although it was noted that there was a strong focus on North East businesses). There was a good turnout with delegates from across the UK.
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Overall, everyone in the room was proud to be part of the manufacturing sector and to promote UK manufacturing, emphasising that the UK leads the way in driving innovation – something that must not be lost. Reducing energy costs remains a priority to ensure the UK remains competitive globally.
May Make Highlights
'May Make' was designed to give a month-long campaign supporting UK manufacturing capabilities and it covered a range of activities:
- We were thrilled to announce that Transport Design International remains our Manufacturing Partner for a further year. This is a critical to support the wider activities and with their strong alignment with UK supply, a perfect partnership.
- Our May Make social media campaign hit LinkedIn and we were delighted to see a range of posts covering capability, products, processes, people and performance.
- May Make delivered some interesting opinion polls on LinkedIn too asking about a variety of topics including the importance of the country of manufacture and rules of origin changes and impact on supply chain decisions. It was the big policy questions that got real traction around the UK Procurement Act (knowledge of this) and the need for a Manufacturing Minister – 60% yes vote!
About TDI
Transport Design International (TDI) are market leaders in the design and manufacture of lightweight, mass transit solutions for the transport industry. With 30 years’ experience in the rail industry, their Very Light Rail product platforms Revolution VLR, Lync VLR and Orbit run on lower-cost infrastructure and offer more affordable transport solutions. Their product portfolio offers platform and kerb height vehicle solutions and single or multi-car options for both urban and rural routes. All projects are aimed at achieving the company’s sustainable goals of zero-carbon functionality for a greener future.
https://transportdesigninternational.com/
Geoff Newman, Chief Operating Officer at TDI said: “Transport Design International are delighted to be supporting the Rail Forum as their Manufacturing Partner this year. With a UK contract in place and growing UK and international interest in our VLR technologies, TDI will be opening a new build facility in the Midlands, this will become the manufacturing and technical centre for the business. This is an exciting time to be working with Rail Forum and we are looking forward to flying the flag for UK Manufacturing and creating more opportunities across our local and national supply chain.”
A formal press release can be found here.
Lee Coleman, National Sales Manager Rail and Power - Cembre
Established in 1986 in Curdworth, Sutton Coldfield, CEMBRE Ltd manufacture over 6,000,000 connections and terminals a year. With a vast array of approvals for Network Rail, London Underground and Rollingstock Manufacturers CEMBRE seek to cooperate with the users of its products to search the best technical and economical solutions related to electrical connection applications.
Steve Barbour, Managing Director - Composite Braiding
Steve Barbour founded Composite Braiding Ltd focussing on higher-volume, lower-cost, more sustainable composite structures. He has turned around 4 other composite businesses and prior to that was a senior manager at Rolls-Royce.
David Taylor, Managing Director - Datum
After founding Datum in 1997, David has spent the last 25+ years growing and developing the business. Datum now employ around 70 people and is the UKs leading supplier of Composite Parts and Sub-assembly`s into the UK Rail market. From Litter Bins to Train Fronts, Table-Tops to Toilets, Datum Deliver.
Joanne Farms, Business Development Manager - Hydram
Hydram Engineering is a leading supplier of precision sheet metal components, assemblies and sheet metal fabrications and proud to be your UK manufacturing partner.
Neil Cross, National Sales Manager – Rail & Infrastructure, Ibstock
“As a leading manufacturer of precast concrete products for the UK rail sector, we are proud to be supporting Rail Forum as a Manufacturing Partner for this year. We are able to offer a complete and lower embodied carbon range to UK rail operators, empowering them to make greener choices when specifying infrastructure materials. “As one of the most advanced rail systems in the world, the British rail network is an exciting and dynamic space and, with more investment in the network pledged by the new government, it’s a fantastic time to be working within the sector.”
Nigel Hewson, Business Development Manager - Infotec
Infotec is a world class designer and manufacturer of LED & TFT passenger information displays. Its products are built to withstand the challenging environments of rail stations, bus and tram networks and on-vehicle applications. Featuring ruggedised designs, environmental management, proven reliability and the capacity to handle a wide range of industry standard protocols over RS485, Ethernet, WiFi and mobile networks, our displays are built to meet your needs.
Tom Roberts, Sales Director – Signal House Group Ltd.
Signal House Group – Founded in 1970, We specialise in designing and manufacturing fabricated steelwork for Rail, Nuclear, Construction and Telecoms industry partners. We deliver work up to a UKCA EXC 4 standard and are Constructionline Gold approved.
Geoff Newman, COO - Transport Design International
TDI is a UK-based manufacturing company, that offers commercial transport solutions in Very Light Rail (VLR). Products include the award-winning Revolution VLR and urban vehicles, Lync and Orbit. It is international market leader in lightweighting technology, focused on the design and manufacture of vehicles for mass transit solutions, supporting zero-emissions battery solutions and operate on cheaper infrastructure.
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