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GEN Y RAIL
A different pathway
Yasemin Tezel, project manager at the National Skills Academy for Railway Engineering (NSARE), told RTM that she entered the rail industry with a slightly different background.
“I majored in management and law. Coincidentally I applied for an internship with NSARE for six months in 2011.”
After graduating NSARE got back in touch to say they were working on “a really big project” – the new national rolling stock training academy – and invited her back to help out with it.
Discussing Gen Y Rail, Tezel said: “I think it will give a glimpse of the industry to the kids and with fun activities as well. Usually people think it’s quite boring but actually it’s quite fun; there are a lot of opportunities.”
It was important for there to be an active challenge, she said, so school-aged students would not fi nd it boring.
“I think kids will go home today and think, ‘Actually, I want to go into the industry’. Or have some sort of work experience later on, which is the most important thing. It’s good to embed it in their minds from a young age.”
On the industry’s role in inspiring the next generation, she added: “It’s very important to get the industry together – if it comes together than we’ll have more budget. It’s really good to get together because it builds synergy.”
“We don’t do enough and I think we should do more, defi nitely.”
Speaking of Gen Y Rail, he added: “This is absolutely fantastic. This is the sort of thing we need; to be building partnerships like this, to advertise what we want as a train operating company, and to show these guys the future is with us.”
Sowing a seed
Spencer Hufton, safety & compliance manager at South West Trains (SWT), told RTM: “It’s about inspiring young people – these events are important to put that message across.
We need them, we need their ideas. At the moment we’ve got this big gap between mid- 40s to late-20s: we need to get people back into the industry.
“It’s not just fi xing trains and driving trains, we need people managers as well; that’s one of the hardest things you can actually do. There’s plenty there for them to get their teeth into.”
“The railway is a job for life; once you’re in, you’re hooked.”
SWT’s apprentice & competence manager Rob Hulson agreed that there was still a long way to go to get more young people interested in a career in rail.
“The younger we start advertising the fact that we’re an exciting industry, that the prospects are fantastic, hopefully these young engineers, entrepreneurs will take something away from today and think: ‘That’s actually what I want to do! That’s my career path; I really fancy going to work within the rail industry’.
Pete Donovan, Network Rail apprentice programme manager, told RTM: “It’s been really enjoyable. There are some great young people here, there’s a lot of opportunity for them. It’s a good forum for them to engage with the rail community, different training providers, so that hopefully they can have a gainful career in the rail industry.”
On the skills gap in rail, he said Network Rail had identifi ed the importance of more new technicians and their subsequent career development.
“So it’s good to see events like this, which is Continued >
76 | rail technology magazine Feb/Mar 14
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