<p>Porterbrook, the 
rolling stock asset management company, welcomed suppliers, customers, 
and other stakeholders from across Britain’s railway at its second 
annual Supplier Conference in Derby on 22 May 2019. The conference was 
attended by more than 200 delegates from over 100 companies. Debate 
focused on the biggest challenges and opportunities facing today’s 
railway as it gears up for increasing demand over the coming decades, 
and as it invests and innovates to improve passenger satisfaction and 
service reliability. </p>
<p>Mary Grant, Porterbrook
 CEO, said: “Our entire industry is focused on delivering a better, more
 reliable service for all our customers. That comes with more 
investment, more innovation, and more creativity. It also comes with 
people and partnerships. Without our people, without their skills, we 
cannot deliver on our mission. At the same time, collaboration is key to
 our success. We must work across our entire supply chain and with all 
our customers to deliver a better railway, be that by harnessing 
technological know-how and IP from Britain’s world-class universities, 
developing low-carbon solutions with manufacturers, or sharing data and 
data analytics with train operators. Ultimately, this all has to be for 
the benefit of our end-customers, the paying public. Passengers deserve a
 quality, reliable service that’s fit for the 21<sup>st </sup>Century. Let’s work together to deliver that.”</p>
<p>Speakers from the 
Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), the 
Department for Transport (DfT), the National Skills Academy for Rail, 
Northern Rail, Unipart and other organisations debated the need to plug 
the gap in rail skills, with an estimated 100,000 vacancies opening up 
over the next ten years. Speakers and delegates also discussed:</p>
<ul>
	<li>The
 importance of delivering a reliable service for passengers: 
high-quality trains that run on time, that meet capacity demand, that 
can keep passengers connected</li>
	<li>The need to promote well-resourced, well-conceived apprenticeships </li>
	<li>How to help SMEs to develop their own apprenticeship programmes</li>
	<li>Boosting diversity, including more female participation in the railway’s workforce</li>
	<li>Increasing
 SME participation in the railway supply chain, including DfT’s target 
to increase its own SME spend from 22% to 33% of overall budget by 2022</li>
	<li>Harnessing
 new technologies such as big data and digitalisation to facilitate 
predictive maintenance, reduce downtime and improve reliability</li>
</ul>
<p>Anvesh Prasad, Head of 
Procurement at Porterbrook, said: “At Porterbrook we are only as strong 
as our supply chain. We already work with many SMEs, helping to sustain 
thousands of jobs. Working closely with our partners means we can 
implement better and faster solutions for our customers, in turn helping
 them to deliver a better, more reliable service to passengers.”</p>