About us
The Rail Delivery Group (RDG) brings together all the companies that run Britain’s railway into a single team with one goal - to deliver a better railway for you and your community.
Millions of people depend on the railway every day and whichever train you step on, our goal is the same - to invest to improve so we can make your journey better and faster. That’s why we are working together in your interest in this way.
All the passenger and freight rail companies are members of the RDG, as well as Network Rail. We are working together to deliver over £50 billion of improvements as part of a Railway Upgrade Plan, to connect communities, business and families across Britain to growth now and for the long term.
This Plan - funded by Government, train companies, Network Rail and your ticket fare - will deliver 6,400 extra services a day and 5,500 new carriages. It is also an investment in our economic future that will help provide jobs and skills for the next generation, no matter where they live.
Our day to day work is organised into four priorities:
- Improving the customer experience - modernising ticketing and improving information
- Improving performance today - focusing on punctuality, safety and value for money
- Improving performance tomorrow - by planning for the future and training the next generation
- Reforming the industry - so our team is as good as it can be
We are working together every day to deliver a stronger Britain through a better railway for you and your community.
In this section of the website, you can find out more about who we are.
More about the Railway Upgrade Plan
The £50bn plus Railway Upgrade Plan is the biggest programme of improvements in our railway since the Victorian era. This investment is needed to maintain and build the railway passengers want and the country needs and to meet future demand. To deliver this plan, we are going to need more skilled people to design and build the railway, and to operate it.
The Railway Upgrade Plan includes:
- £11.6bn being spent on over 5,500 new carriages.
- £31.3bn of renewals and enhancements to the railway infrastructure between 2014 and 2019 by Network Rail, including:
- electrification of the Great Western Mainline bringing faster, cleaner, more reliable journeys plus new intercity express trains;
- a series of improvements to the railway in the North of England to allow thousands more trains to run, plus replacement of old Pacer trains;
- and, completion of the Thameslink Programme which will see a ‘tube frequency’ service with up to 24 trains an hour running through the heart of London.
- Spending to complete the £14.8bn Crossrail project, fully opening between Reading and Heathrow to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in December 2019 – which will increase central London’s rail capacity by 10%, with trains carrying up to 1,500 passengers running through central London every two and a half minutes at peak times.
- £7.7bn on HS2 by April 2019 – to lay the foundations for a vital new railway that will create space to run many of the extra trains Britain’s rail network needs.
For further detail on these projects, digital railway and more, please visit Network Rail's Railway Upgrade Plan site.
Our history
ATOC (Association of Train Operating Companies) was set up after privatisation in 1993, to bring together all train companies to preserve and enhance the benefits for passengers of Britain’s national rail network. In 2011, it was joined by the Rail Delivery Group, which was responsible for policy formulation and communications on behalf of the whole rail industry. In October 2016, the single name of Rail Delivery Group was adopted to describe the two organisations.
The Rail Delivery Group brings together all passenger and freight operators with Network Rail and HS2, providing services and support to enable them to succeed in transforming and delivering a successful railway. This benefits customers, taxpayers and the economy.
We also provide support and give a voice to freight and passenger operators, as well as delivering important national ticketing, information and reservation services for passengers and staff on behalf of member companies.
