THE ANNUAL conference of the Derby and Derbyshire Rail Forum, with Railnews as official media partner, is to be held at the Derby Conference Centre on 6 November, with a pre-conference dinner the evening before.

The Forum has spearheaded two previous annual conferences, which in 2006 debated the topics of high-speed rail and last year concentrated on the topical subjects of sustainability and the environment.

Following the great success of the previous conferences, this year’s conference will centre on the extremely topical area of innovation. The conference will not focus purely on technical development but will cover many diverse areas of innovation across the rail industry market.

Featured will be innovations in areas such as procurement through PPPs and financing in general, current developments in transport solutions, including tram-train, and also changes as seen through the eyes of Network Rail, train operators and the supply chain, including signalling, electrification and high-speed rail.

Also covered at the conference will be the changing environment for the ROSCOs and Transport for London’s innovative objectives for the capital, including those for London Underground, London Over-ground, Docklands Light Railway and Croydon.

For further details and the opportunity to book your place, please contact Debbie Cook, Forum co-ordinator, on tel: 01332 851297. Email: info@derbyrailforum.org.uk