2025…a productive year for AARC Professional Services
It’s hard to believe that we are now heading into the Autumn and attendance at our penultimate supplier exhibition of the year – Rail Infrastructure Networking (RIN) Derby on Thursday 11th September. To date, 2025 has been an interesting and productive year for AARC Professional Services (AARCPS) as we continue to spread the message about delivering outstanding outcomes for clients across the disciplines of rail operations, business change & projects, safety & assurance, rail operations training and rail infrastructure. As exhibitors, event season for AARCPS kicked off in March with RIN London, before we headed across the Irish Sea the following month for the first ever Rail Link event in Dublin, meeting lots of friendly faces and hopefully paving the way for new opportunities. Then it was back to the UK, albeit it north of the border, for RIN Glasgow, where, thanks in no small part to the efforts of our HSQE specialist Liz Parkes, we almost ran out of promotional materials!
Now we’re preparing for the penultimate RIN event of 2025, running from 9.30am to 1.30pm on Thursday 11th September at the Derby Arena, Royal Way, Derby – https://www.rinevents.co.uk/venue/derby/. Interestingly, it was Derby where AARCPS first started its relationship with RIN, as an exhibitor at the 2024 event. Run by Jobson James Rail, what made RIN stand out for us was its firm focus on networking, eschewing speeches and presentations and instead focusing on bringing together likeminded suppliers and other organisations from across the industry for a chance to discuss key issues affecting the supply chain, as well as identifying potential opportunities. We were so impressed with the format/attendance, we took the decision to sign up for all RIN events across 2025 and 2026!
‘Exciting to be back in Derby this September’
It’s particularly exciting to be back in Derby this September for the latest RIN event, following a host of recent activities across the city in support of Rail 200 – a year-long programme of events in celebration of the anniversary of the birth of the modern railway with the opening of the Stockton & Darlington Railway (S&DR) in 1825. This culminated in August with the ‘Greatest Gathering’ – the world’s largest ever gathering of historic and modern trains and rail related exhibits, held across three days at Alstom’s Litchurch Lane Works. Running from 1st to 3rd August, the event included appearances from the legendary Flying Scotsman and Locomotion No1 – the first loco to run on the S&DR.
‘Oustanding outcomes for clients, from frontline to boardroom…’
Joining me at RIN Derby on the 11th September will be Marketing Manager Nigel Barber and Operations Specialist Tony Essam – a career railwayman who has been providing operational solutions to the rail industry for over 30 years, most recently with the introduction of Transport for Wales’ (TfW) new depot at Taffs Well near Cardiff (read more here.) We’re already looking forward to talking to visitors to our stand about how, as a rail consultancy run by railway people for railway people, we bring together like-minded rail professionals with the common aim of providing expert, sustainable and quality certificated support to the industry, delivering outstanding outcomes for clients, from frontline to boardroom. Along with our work at Taffs Well, other projects we have worked on include supporting the introduction of the new Control Operations Leadership Academy for Network Rail’s Western route, Asset Maintenance Data Management processes for Transport for London’s Elizabeth line, Depot Operations Controller Training for TfW and the production/introduction of a new Health & Safety Guide for Network Rail’s System Operator function.
Celebrating 12 months of ISO9001 certification
RIN Derby will also be a great opportunity to celebrate 12 months of ISO9001 certification – awarded in recognition of our commitment to the delivery of quality management systems and directly related to providing our clients with outstanding outcomes. We have our first surveillance audit from awarding body BSI in September and look forward to demonstrating how quality outcomes remain at the forefront of all that we do here at AARCPS. If you are attending RIN Derby on 11th September, do please come and say hello, see how we can help you and claim your free mug and notebook! And for those who can’t make the 11th, there’s always RIN Harrogate on Thursday 13th November 2025 at The Great Yorkshire Events Centre, Great Yorkshire Showground, where we’ll once again be in attendance.
All that remains is to wish everyone a happy summer (what’s left of it!) and we hope to see you at one of the RIN events in the future.
