THE NEXT GENERATION
Sue Gill, head of business development at NSARE, the National Skills Academy for Railway Engineering, and Gil Howarth, its chief executive, update RTM on progress since work began earlier this year.
he NSARE team have been working hard to start to make the railway industry’s skills vision a reality, having won Government approval at the end of last year. The industry’s vision is that by 2015, its engineering workforce will have the necessary skills to support the maintenance, development and expansion of a first-class, cost-effective 21st century railway. NSARE is the industry’s chosen vehicle for leading the employers’ response to the challenge of enhancing the national railway engineering capability to design, build and maintain this key component of the UK’s infrastructure.
T
The UK taxpayer contributes around half of the cost of the railways. Thus there is a huge Government incentive to reduce costs and increase value for money, which inherently requires the provision of a properly skilled workforce. The need for investment in skills is largely determined by the require- ments for the cost effective maintenance and renewal of existing assets and the de- mographics of the existing workforce. The challenge of delivering the major invest- ment programmes coupled with the need to provide the necessary skills required to implement new technologies strongly rein- force these requirements.
When NSARE approval was announced, John Hayes, Minister for Further Edu- cation, Skills and Lifelong Learning, ex- plained: “The funds announced today of up to £2.7m from Government, and with support from employers, for a National Skills Academy for Railway Engineering is a tremendous step in the right direction in making sure we have enough highly-skilled people in technical roles. The rail engi- neering sector is crucially important to the economy, with large projects such as Cross- rail underway. We need to make sure we have a workforce in place to make projects like this succeed in the future and I look forward to seeing the work of the Academy in person.”
The demand for railway engineering skills is growing, in terms of both quantity and quality, and there is a competing interna- tional demand for railway engineers, par- ticularly professionals. There is also a com- peting demand for engineers from other UK sectors, including telecoms, power and nuclear: all of which already have national skills academies and major initiatives to
attract engineers of all levels. NSARE has been developed in collaboration with em- ployers and training providers from across the sector, including the infrastructure and owners and their supply chain, traction and rolling stock manufacturers and supply chain and train and freight operating com- panies to support the industry in address- ing these challenges. The Academy will develop and implement a unified railway engineering skills strategy for the whole industry, ensuring that training capabil- ity and capacity meets the future needs of Britain’s railways. Its activities are planned to include forecasting skills requirements, accreditation of training organisations, standardisation of training course content, business-to-business services for employ- ers and training companies, and promot- ing careers in the rail industry.
NSARE Ltd was incorporated in January as a ‘not for profit’ organisation limited by guarantee. It has an impressive board of directors representing all sections of the industry, chaired by Terry Morgan, chair- man of Crossrail.
Gil Howarth, chief executive of NSARE, said: “Since incorporation in January, NSARE has already made great progress, including the establishment of a railway engineering industry skills policy group whose first demonstrable success has been securing cross-industry agreement to con- sistent Railway Engineering Apprentice- ship Frameworks at L2 and L3.
“We have been working closely with indus- try representatives including TfL and Net-
work Rail to review how standards of train- ing and trainers are maintained. This work will shape the future of training and skills delivery for the industry ensuring quality, consistency and value for money.”
Following the success of iRail 2011, the Smallpeice Trust ran their first railway en- gineering residential course for 100 young teenagers who are about to make their GCSE choices. The course was sponsored by NSARE and The Lloyd’s Register Edu- cational Trust and supported by Network Rail, TfL, First Group, Babcock and Na- tional Express.
Howarth commented: “I was delighted to hear that the course was oversubscribed and, to quote one attendee, ‘the course was amazing!’ We have made a great start, but the team know they have quite a task ahead of them. However, with continued industry support and collaboration, I am confident that the industry’s vision will be achieved.”
NSARE is holding a half-day conference at the IMechE in London on June 22, Nation- al Vocational Qualification Day. Admission is free and it’s a great opportunity to find out more about NSARE, our future plans for supporting the Indus- try and to meet others interested in Railway Engineering skills.
Gil Howarth
FOR MORE INFORMATION E:
enquiries@nsare.org W:
www.nsare.org
rail technology magazine Apr/May 11 | 85
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