The Department for Transport has published the new ‘Transport Resilience Strategy’, setting out the UK Government’s approach to strengthening the resilience of the UK transport system over the next 5 to 10 years.

CIHT welcomes the publication of the Transport Resilience Strategy as it closely aligns with the recommendations and vision set out in CIHT’s report "Delivering a resilient transport network" 2024.

Both documents emphasise moving away from reactive emergency management toward a proactive, long-term, whole-system approach to climate adaptation and infrastructure resilience

The strategy represents an important step towards recognising transport resilience as a strategic priority for the nation, particularly through its commitments to preventative maintenance, improved risk assessment, cross sector collaboration and long-term infrastructure planning.

However, the priority must now be translating these commitments into tangible improvements across the UK’s transport networks.

Ensuring that resilience is embedded in infrastructure investment and maintenance decisions today will be essential to protecting the UK's transport networks, supporting economic growth, and maintaining reliable connectivity for communities and businesses.

Below outlines how the Transport Resilience Strategy aligns with CIHT’s recommendations:

Proactive, Long-Term Planning & Dedicated Funding

CIHT Recommendation: Calls for a long-term strategy (10–20 years) focused on preventative maintenance, alongside committed 5-year funding cycles for local road maintenance to prevent costly asset failures.

DfT Strategy Alignment: Establishes a 5–10 year strategic direction and backs it with committed multi-year funding, including £7.3 billion for local highway maintenance (2026–2030) and nearly £25 billion for the Strategic Road Network (2026–2031). The strategy explicitly recognises preventative maintenance as a high-value tool.

Standardised Risk Assessments & Sector Standards

CIHT Recommendation: Urges authorities to make resilience assessments mandatory for asset owners and provide consistent guidance to prevent fragmented, non-shareable data across operators.

DfT Strategy Alignment: Commits to standardising risk assessments, creating standardised inter-modal industry risk registers, expanding Transport Hazard Summaries, and establishing formal transport resilience standards across the sector.

Managing Cross-Sector Interdependencies & System Thinking

CIHT Recommendation: Emphasises a whole-system framework to manage cascading impacts across interdependent networks, including energy, water, telecommunications, and adjacent transport lines.

DfT Strategy Alignment: Focuses heavily on internal and upstream interdependencies, specifically committing to align transport resilience planning with the energy sector as road and rail electrification expands.

Academic Partnerships, Digital Twins & Skills Development

CIHT Recommendation: Developed in collaboration with the DARe Hub (National Hub for Decarbonised, Adaptable, and Resilient Transport Infrastructures), CIHT advocates for using digital twins, data sharing, research, and sector-wide training.

DfT Strategy Alignment: Highlights ongoing funding for the DARe Hub, expands digital twin programs (such as the Crisis Response and Resilience Digital Twin), funds innovation through Transport Research and Innovation Grants (TRIG), and launches a Transport Resilience Network alongside a Transport Resilience Academy pilot.

Embedding Resilience in Governance & Appraisal

CIHT Recommendation: Urges nationwide strategic prioritisation so that resilience becomes a core objective for all asset owners and operators.

DfT Strategy Alignment: Mandates embedding resilience principles directly into HM Treasury Green Book appraisal processes, project business cases, and the governance of arm's-length bodies like Great British Railways.

Further information:

The strategy explains how the government will work with industry and local partners in relation to the transport system to understand risks, reduce vulnerabilities, and improve preparedness for disruption across the transport system.

It also sets out practical measures to improve risk assessment, horizon scanning, exercising, and local collaboration.

The strategy further explains out what the UK Government Resilience Action Plan means in practice for the transport sector, by applying its 3 primary objectives for transport:

• Continuously assess how resilient the UK transport sector is, so interventions and resources can be targeted effectively.
• Enable the whole transport system, including transport users, to take action to increase resilience.
• Strengthen government’s transport resilience capabilities.

The strategy also commits to delivering a transport resilience training package for transport operators and local partners alongside a sector-wide network to support collaboration, share learning, and strengthen resilience across the system.

CIHT’s report ‘Delivering a resilient transport network’ is available to read here.

CIHT looks forward to continuing to work with the Department for Transport, HM Treasury, and the wider UK Government to ensure the nation’s transport network works for all our futures and delivers environmentally, economically, and socially.