The railway industry is very much committed to employing NDT where possible to ensure the integrity of components used on the UK rail network. The British Railways Board are the leaders in this field since they are responsible for laying down the standards that these components must meet. This paper discusses the current status of railway industry NDT and outlines some of the problem areas, which are not always due to the basic capabilities of the techniques employed. The potential contribution from the research community is explored and the hopes for the future stated.