GEN Y RAIL
Sixth Form College. She said: “I am so proud of them! I think they did work very well together and came up with some amazing ideas.
“It’s been fantastic – we brought two teams and both teams absolutely loved it.”
Safe and successful
A series of presentations showcased a range of different pathways into a career in rail, from apprenticeships to engineering degrees, and work experience on track.
There were similar themes across their talks: to study what you enjoy, try to grasp opportunities as they arise, the importance of a range of different roles and sectors, and staying passionate about your work.
“The industry has been asking for something like this for a long time now… If we don’t keep this going, we’re going to have an industry with no people in it.”
was an uplift of around 20% on the typical salary of a non-rail civil engineer.
Rodgers said: “Rail gets a bad press. It’s not seen as the most sexy of the engineering disciplines; you probably associate rail with guys in orange PPE stood at the side of railway lines. The reality is more exciting than that. Over my career I’ve worked on some of the biggest projects in the UK.”
He urged the young people to look at the apprenticeship and training schemes on offer in rail, many of which were exhibiting at the event.
Do what you enjoy
Amanda White, senior route engineer for HS2, said: “Not a lot of people actually know what it is they want to do in their career. So it’s ok if you don’t know.”
Dan Rodgers, head of UK rail at AECOM, told students that the sheer scale of investment going on in rail at the moment means “your career is pretty much safe in rail for the next 20 to 30 years.”
The “massive” skills shortage in rail engineering meant there was “a real opportunity for you guys to have a very successful career if you get into this market now”.
Skills achieved in rail are transferable and can be used overseas, he added. Another perk that might interest the young people
She described the rail industry as “a special place to work”, due to passionate people and huge opportunities. White chose her degree based on the subjects she enjoyed, and picked a placement in industry at Network Rail because it was the nearest to her hometown.
“That was my introduction to the rail industry – it was complete chance that I worked there.” But she said: “For you I don’t want that to be the case because in the future we’ve got huge challenges, huge programmes of work and we need people like you to get
excited about joining the industry.
rail technology magazine Feb/Mar 14 | 75
“The railway is a job for life; once you’re in, you’re hooked and there’s such a wide range of opportunity to move into that you’ll never get bored.”
She added: “We all need to work together as an industry to make sure we’re communicating what the opportunities are – that we’re establishing training schemes that give you the right skills, so you are ready to help us to build things like HS2. We need young people and fresh ideas to ensure that we’re meeting expectations.”
‘This is what we need’
There was huge support for Gen Y Rail from the industry, and both mentors and guests were unanimous in their praise for the event.
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