McGINLEY ADVERTORIAL
The announcement made earlier this year by Network Rail, in respect of the investment in the Electrification assets on the Mainline Network, is a boon for users of train services from London to South Wales and in the North-West of England, as well as others across the network. The investment will improve journey times for paying customers and reduce the carbon emissions by as much as 35% per customer.
That said it also represents a major challenge to the engineering community, as contractors jostle for position to deliver the significant volumes of project work that stretches well into the next Control Period. However, while the organisations that will build and deliver Network Rail’s vision for an electrified network are in position – a number of consortia have even been created to ensure accessibility to all of the necessary disciplines – what about the skills that will be needed to build and then maintain the new asset base?
A dearth of major Electrification construction schemes in the recent past has exacerbated the pre-existing skills shortage and the committed investment by Network Rail in schemes such as those mentioned, provides an opportunity for all elements of the supply chain to bridge the skills gap for the foreseeable future.
The forward work-bank of schemes lays down a challenge to the contracting fraternity, providing the opportunity to introduce new entrants to the industry in a timely and coordinated way; thereby ensuring that sufficient human resource exists, with the necessary skills, knowledge, attitude and behaviours required to have a positive impact on the projects on which there will so clearly be a demand.
A significant percentage of the headline investment in the rail network is being made with electrification as the primary source of traction and the concurrent status of existing and forecast schemes will place a pressure on the existing
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resources within the Electrification supply chain. The challenge back is to ensure that there are sufficient numbers of personnel with the requisite skills, experience and underpinning knowledge available in all areas, not just those where there is a pre-existing infrastructure.
McGinley concurs with the findings of the research document ‘Skills Strategy for the Railway Engineering Sector’, in which the National Skills Academy for Railway Engineering (NSARE) highlighted skills shortages in Signalling & Telecommunications, Electrification, Traction and Rolling Stock, as well as certain consultancy sectors; a point reinforced from evidence provided by the Railway Industry Association (RIA), of which McGinley is a member.
Assett.McGinley is the Company’s specialist railway training provider, one which was recently ranked in the Top 15 of rail training providers inspected by NSARE: a performance in which the Company is rightly proud, given that the business was only formed in January 2012.
The Company has a vested interest in developing both the means and methods of the Electrification training that it delivers and will ensure that it complies to the standards set out in ‘NR/L2/CTM/028 – Competence & Training in OLE Construction Engineering’ (OLEC Standard). McGinley recently engaged with NSARE and other RIA stakeholders to undertake a skill scan on the current workforce and will use those findings to ensure that it is able to enhance the skills and capabilities of its labour force.
McGinley is unswerving in its commitment to imbue its workforce with the skills, knowledge and abilities that will enable its clients to successfully meet their delivery obligations, to the benefit of the rail network and users as a whole and to help safeguard Network Rail’s once in a generation investment in Electrification.
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