GEN Y RAIL


available, and promoting training and apprenticeship schemes aimed at the next generation of rail professionals.


The fi rst Gen Y Rail event took place in Newcastle, at the Great North Museum: Hancock, on 13 February 2014. More than 150 students from seven schools and six colleges came together to compete on a railway challenge, and to learn more about different career opportunities in the rail industry.


The north east leg of the national competition brought industry professionals into direct contact with the next generation of recruits, to start to address the future skills gap in rail. There will be a series of these regional events over the coming months, culminating in a national fi nal to be held at Network Rail’s Westwood facility in Coventry on 25 June.


Expert help


Exhibitors and rail industry volunteers were on hand in Newcastle to answer students’ questions about the railways, to give advice on future career choices, and to explain how they themselves got into rail.


Mission Room technology was also on display, allowing students the chance to see the railway in action with a 360-degree perspective. Its 3D modelling capabilities are already in use by Network Rail to improve safety when planning possessions, but can be applied in a number of different ways. One student commented: “It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before!” Older members of the audience were no less eager to have a look inside.


A series of presentations by young people working in the industry provided further inspiration, and each team had a mentor to help them with the engineering challenge. Students were tasked with designing a new train that


would transport staff, students and an artefact from the museum up to Edinburgh.


Thinking outside the box


Some of their solutions were funny and some were insightful, but all the students demonstrated an ability to think critically about the problem and come up with some innovative answers.


Network Rail described some of the students’ designs as “eclectic” but added: “There are some budding engineers in the making.”


“There are not enough students with the right skills. The only way to tackle that is through events like today.”


Richard Merrills, from SigAssure, agreed that the children’s suggestions could be “wild”. But he said: “In reality, most of them are not far off where we need to be. How we get there is another challenge of course – whether it’s feasible or costs too much money is a different question – but everything I’ve heard does align with where the industry wants to go.”


Some teams came up with trains driven by technology, not people – perhaps a pertinent note of things to come for the industry. Other interesting suggestions included an emphasis on solar power, disabled access, and electric traction.


Following their presentations, the Dragons’ Den-style panel of judges picked four winners based on the effectiveness, cost and ingenuity behind their ideas, as well as their ability to communicate that as a team.


Two winners were picked from the school-age teams, and two from sixth-form and college- aged students (See box out).


CREST discovery


Students achieved a CREST Discovery award for their hard work, courtesy of the British Science Association (BSA). The CREST scheme seeks to reward school and college-aged pupils for their project work, and the Discovery award is the fi rst in a series of awards they can work towards with the BSA.


David Rogers, from the STEM advisory network for Tyne and Wear, explained what the students were working towards: “The idea behind CREST is that it rewards students for project work that they do, either Continued overleaf >


rail technology magazine Feb/Mar 14 | 73


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