The Railway Industry Association (RIA) has published A Checklist for Rail Strategies, a practical framework designed to help Government, Great British Railways (GBR), devolved authorities and industry test whether the UK’s growing family of rail, transport and place strategies work together as a coherent, deliverable system.

As GBR is established, an expanding suite of national, regional and local strategies, implementation plans and roadmaps are taking shape.

RIA’s checklist does not make policy judgements or evaluate existing strategies. Instead, it helps those commissioning, producing, assuring or updating strategies test whether the right questions have been asked, whether assumptions and priorities are aligned, and whether the proposed direction is credible and deliverable over time.

Developed with input from RIA members and experts across industry, the checklist is built around six lenses: outcomes, service proposition, enablers, capabilities, accountability and engagement, and coherence.

As well as a detailed checklist, there are five key messages for those producing rail strategies and plans:

• Start with outcomes, not rail: strategies should define what the railway is there to achieve before considering what services, capabilities and investments are required, positioning rail as an enabler of growth, housing, freight and wider social objectives rather than a transport system seeking funding.
• Be clear on priorities and choices: decisions about growth, affordability, capacity and long-term value should be made explicit and evidenced, rather than left implicit.
• A clear vision for the future railway: strategies should set out a clear line of sight from outcomes to the service the railway must provide, and from that service to the capabilities and investments needed, across 5, 10, 15 and 30-year horizons.
• Clarify responsibilities, but break down silos: different places will legitimately pursue different priorities, but the connections, alignment and differences between strategies must be visible and understood, with teams empowered to work across boundaries.
• We need living plans, not “on the shelf” documents: strategies must drive action through clear governance, ownership and accountability, with progress monitored and assumptions revisited as circumstances change.

Commenting on the checklist’s publication, RIA Policy & Public Affairs Director Robert Cook said: “As Great British Railways is created and Mayoral Strategic Authorities are taking on increasingly significant roles, we have a real opportunity to bring the rail industry’s strategies and plans together into one coherent, deliverable system. Too often, individual documents are produced in isolation, without a clear line of sight between the outcomes we are trying to achieve and the investment needed to deliver them.

“This checklist sets out five simple messages for anyone commissioning, producing or updating a rail strategy: start with outcomes, be honest about priorities and trade-offs, set out a clear vision for the future railway, clarify responsibilities without creating silos, and treat strategies as living plans rather than documents that sit on a shelf. Used early and revisited often, it can help surface gaps and improve alignment before major decisions are taken, giving the supply chain greater confidence to invest in people, skills and capability.”

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