UK: Rail Week 2018 Promotes Careers in the Industry
Rail Week 2018 © Network Rail
Young Rail Professionals and other organisations in the UK, including Network Rail, are co-ordinating a programme of special events to improve the skills gap across the industry. Rail Week 2018, which coincides with the British government’s Year of Engineering, aims to encourage young people to consider careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
Young Rail Professionals is a non-profit association created by young people in the industry to improve their opportunities for training, networking and career progression. Rail Week was launched by the organisation in 2016 and in 2017 it engaged 3,000 young people, their parents and teachers across the country.
Network Rail Joins the Programme
Network Rail is actively involved in the events for Rail Week 2018. On Wednesday 10 October the company is supporting an event by Yorkshire Women in Rail to promote STEM subjects and employability at the company’s operating centre in York. Eight current apprentices and former apprentices will attend the event to talk about their experiences on Network Rail’s apprenticeship schemes.
The event is aimed at pupils in years seven to nine (12 to 14 years old) and will include STEM activities, mock interviews and information on careers in the rail industry. Participants at the event will also be given tours of Network Rail’s signalling school, welding school, track layout and operations floor. School children in Milton Keynes will visit Network Rail’s office in the city for a similar event on 12 October. The company is also working with Mini Professors UK to develop lessons on how railways, tunnels and bridges work and safety on the tracks.
Representatives from Network Rail will also be promoting Rail Week 2018 and careers in the industry at King’s Cross station in London on 11 October.