Forum welcomes transport manufacturing skills report

Rail Forum has welcomed the findings and recommendations of a new report, which aims to help secure skills in transport manufacturing.

Last week, the Transport Committee released the report called Engine for Growth: Securing Skills for Transport Manufacturing.

It followed a 2025 inquiry into skills for transport manufacturing undertaken by the committee, to which Rail Forum responded with written evidence.

Responding to the publication Elaine Clark, Rail Forum’s chief executive, said: “Our 400 supply chain members will welcome this report.

“In particular, the call for greater collaboration across government and with regional mayors to ensure the ‘British transport manufacturing sector can… make the most of the opportunities presented by the Government’s legislation and policies’ as they affect the rail sector.

“We are also pleased to see the Transport Committee urge the Government ‘to go as far as possible towards supporting public procurement from British manufacturers’.

“We also support the implicit suggestion that the Department for Transport should work with industry to promote manufacturing as a career option, which will not only help to change outdated perceptions but also encourage a greater number of young people into manufacturing, whilst increasing diversity amongst our ageing workforce.”