The West Midlands Region

This initiative, which has been brought to life by Advantage West Midlands in partnership with the West Midlands Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS-WM), has rapidly outgrown the region and become a national organisation.

The West Midlands has been very successful in promoting and developing its rail business through a wide variety of programmes that have seen many tangible benefits, including the UK's first IRIS-accredited company, a number of very successful technology transfer projects and significant export contracts being won by Midlands-based companies through their involvement with UK Trade & Investment.

Building on these successes, it is clear that the Rail Alliance offers a fresh approach to business networking and development. It is looking to complement the activities of the more established trade associations rather than to cover the same ground. At its heart are SMEs and companies that are new to the sector alongside existing providers.