Necessity is the mother of invention; what rail needs to make innovation happen

The rail industry is in an extraordinary place. Having been demoted by government at the back of the last century in favour of enabling individual mobility, rail has seen unprecedented growth in passenger use over the last 20 years. Journey numbers are rising beyond pre-Beeching levels and forecast to grow further. Government policy now recognizes the unique social and economic benefits of rail. HMG’s IPA National Infrastructure Delivery Plan identifies a pipeline valued at £483bn pipeline over 5 years of which £42bn is in rail.

By any measure, capacity is now the dominant constraint for the network. Innovation (comprising novel thinking and protocol) and R&D (developing new technology) are required to operate busier services on existing conventional routes.

Looking further, there is huge effort being put into encouraging innovation by supply and delivery groups ranging from Rail Delivery Group (which was established in response to McNulty’s recommendations to force through improvement of the sector’s Value for Money) to Rail Supply Group and RIA (the industry supply chain association that links government, tier 1's and SMEs.) Innovation funding worth 10’s of £millions is available.

The stage is set to innovate; to delay the point at which the capacity problem manifests - and at which fiendishly expensive new lines are required. But where will the drive and urgency to innovate come from? The logic is impeccable, but the motivation is missing. Necessity is the mother of invention and the huge order book for relatively conventional engineering will foster innovation inertia. Commercial enterprises whose market is fed by relatively sure supplies of government funding don’t need to truly innovate to survive.

As the road network starts to embrace driverless technology and platooning, it reduces rail’s appeal and therefore its growth and ‘investability’. Innovation in substitute sectors may be just the thing rail needs.