Tom Lee
Director of Standards, RSSB
Standards make the railway safer by minimising risk. They make it more efficient through uniformity and interoperability, and minimising rework. They’re also one of the best tools in our collective box for reducing industry costs.
Standards published in 2025 alone are projected to benefit industry by a minimum £65 million over the next five years. Sixty percent of this total comes from just three operational standards.
These are conservative numbers. In reality, the true benefits could be ten times this figure.
The Business Case for Change helps tell this story. It’s a document produced for all new and revised standards describing quantitative and qualitative benefits and is agreed with the industry.
Let’s take a closer look at the quantified impact areas of just one standard.
This standard will also bring benefits to legal compliance, assurance, people process and systems, sustainability, customer experience, and industry reputation.
With input from across the sector and complex research often involved, how much does it cost to deliver a standard with these kinds of returns?
A gateway to innovation
As well as saving costs, Standards are a gateway to innovation in rail. Bodies from across the sector can request help at any time to solve problems and adapt solutions. These requests can spark new projects, help us find new paths to tread, and ultimately lead to better solutions.
Here’s who asked us for help in 2025, and how we responded.
