General
• Loans of £500,000 to £2m available
• Aims to support new and existing rail supply chain firms
A national £20m fund to help businesses tap in to the UK’s growing rail supply opportunities was launched by Finance Birmingham on 1 February.
The National Rail Supply Growth Fund was announced alongside the launch of Rail Supply Group Strategy by the Departments for Transport and Business Innovation and Skills.
The fund supports the aims of the strategy by helping businesses across England take advantage of the expansion and modernisation of the UK’s rail network, including High Speed Two (HS2). It will help both existing and new suppliers to increase and strengthen their capabilities, productivity and international competiveness, leading to increased levels of employment and investment.
The fund will offer loans of £0.5m to £2m to businesses, particularly those needing funding towards capital, new capital expenditure and product launches.
It builds on the success of the national Advanced Manufacturing Supply Chain Initiative also delivered by Finance Birmingham.
Sue Summers, Chief Executive of Finance Birmingham, said: “The rail supply sector needs to grow in order to meet the demands of an increasing number of rail projects here in the UK such as Crossrail and HS2, and globally.
“The fund has been set up to help those businesses out there that might already be part of the rail sector supply but also to those that will be new to rail.
“We have a strong track record of helping businesses across many different sectors regionally and nationally. We are really pleased to play a part in building the railways of the future by providing a new source of funding to build an innovative and responsive supply chain.”
The fund is aligned to the work of the Rail Supply Group Strategy, which was launched by the Secretaries of State for Business Innovation and Skills, and for Transport, at the Lloyds Bank Advanced Manufacturing Training Centre at Ansty Park in Coventry today.
