What is the Rail Sector Deal?
The Rail Sector Deal was launched on 6 December 2018.
Sector Deals form part of the UK Government’s Industrial Strategy – they are broad agreements between an industry and the government to establish a partnership approach to creating opportunities that boost productivity, employment, innovation and skills in key sectors of the economy.
The Rail Sector Deal focused efforts across seven work-streams with four key pillars:
- Transformation through digitalisation
- Pioneering intelligent mobility
- Delivering a sustainable UK rail sector
- Export and inward investment
and three cross-cutting themes:
- Productivity
- Skills and people
- SME growth through collaboration and shared apprenticeships and schools engagement – Midlands-based pilot programmes
The programmes and pilots ran for three years and were led by industry, client and Government champions with delivery largely undertaken by industry representative bodies, including the Rail Forum, Railway Industry Association, Digital Railway Board, Rail Delivery Group, and National Skills Academy for Rail.
Overall responsibility for delivery of the Sector Deal lay with the RSG Council.
There was no specific additional funding from government to deliver these programmes.
The Rail Forum was tasked to deliver two Midlands-based pilot programmes:
The Rail Forum was accountable to the RSG Council for delivery. Governance was provided via a Steering Group chaired by Rail Forum Board member and Industry Champion for the Midlands Pilots, Anna Ince.
