|
 |
||||||
|
Resettlement training, retraining courses, recruitment / job opportunities for all ex armed forces military personnel from the Royal Navy, Royal Marines, The Army and RAF.
|
|||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
It would be reckless to assume that, under current economic conditions, the picture painted in this article is likely to look the same in a year’s time. With the re-nationalisation of the East Coast Main Line due to National Express defaulting on that franchise, and also with its East Anglia rail franchise due to be terminated three years early in March 2011 and the C2C franchise due to be put up for tender, talk of again merging wheels with rails, and significant shortfalls in revenues requiring tax payer support, the future of major projects is uncertain, and the structure of the industry is under examination. However, with projects such as the revolutionary new high-speed rail network – eventually due to link London and Scotland at speeds of up to 250 mph – currently under discussion, there is certainly light at the end of the tunnel! WHAT MAKES UP BRITAIN’S RAILWAY NETWORK? 15,795 route kilometres 2,520 stations 40,000 bridges/tunnels 9,000 level crossings Passenger journeys in 2007/08 increased by 7% to 1.232 billion (a level not seen since 1946) and, since 1997/98, they have risen by 45.6% from 846 million. In addition, international passenger numbers on Eurostar rose from 6 million in 1997 to 8.2 million in 2007 – a jump of 36.7%. A total of 104 million long-distance rail journeys were made in 2007/08, compared to 25 million domestic air journeys. Rail therefore supports a domestic inter-city market over four times as large as air. Further information is given in the accompanying box. THE SECTOR AT A GLANCE 23,000+ passenger trains operated every day 9,500 passenger services run in the Greater London area each day 1,600 freight train services run every weekday 3.38 million passengers carried per day – 70% of whom either start or finish their journey in London 641 million passengers moved into/out of and within London annually, which is: 1.75 million journeys every day 826 km average distance travelled by Britons annually 20.7 average number of rail journeys made by Britons annually 39.9 km average journey length Note: figures are for 2007/08 The railways employ over 170,000 people, either directly or in supporting industries, with about 80,000 in the train operating companies (TOCs) and Network Rail. Rail is 20 times safer than car travel and about the same as air travel. Network Rail runs the national rail network. It runs, operates and maintains 20,000 miles of track (and infrastructure), 40,000 bridges and tunnels, 18 major stations (more than half of all UK passenger journeys start or finish at one of them), 2,500 other stations (leased to train operators) and 8,200 commercial properties. To maintain this infrastructure, new regional maintenance companies were created. Thousands of trains were sold off to three new rolling stock leasing companies, which maintain the fleets and invest in new builds. The average age of the passenger rolling stock is 14.7 years – Britain has one of Europe’s youngest train fleets. Passenger TOCs were created along with rail freight operators to run close to 25,000 trains every day (1,600 of them freight), carrying nearly 3 million passengers and over 400,000 tonnes of freight (79% of the UK’s coal and coal products, and 34% of our metals). Network Rail’s latest strategic business plan outlines its spending proposals for 2009–2014, and details what the company believes is required to grow and expand the railway in order to respond to the increasing demand for rail travel from both passengers and freight users. This includes:
Rail-related skills gained in the Services The Royal Logistic Corps are the British Army’s railway experts. Soldiers from 79 Port Enabling Squadron, which belongs to 17 Port and Maritime Regiment, part of the Royal Logistic Corps, use their specialist expertise on operations to provide technical liaison and advice between a host nation and the relevant military headquarters, to maximise the use of any rail network available to a commander. Rail can provide an excellent transport resource for heavy and bulk items. For example, in Kosovo, rail provided an important logistical link between the landlocked state and its neighbour’s seaport, enabling vehicles and supplies to be quickly transported. More recently, British Army rail operators were used in southern Iraq to help get port rail facilities up and running. Employment in the rail industry Fortunately, behind the headlines, the future for railways remains remarkably strong. Passenger demand remains high and is predicted to continue to grow, as road gridlock becomes ever more common. New and improved railway lines are planned for the near future (such as the new high-speed rail network mentioned above), and rail travel is definitely here to stay. Careers are generally split into the following employment areas:
This all adds up to a growing demand for new staff on the railways, although the industry already has serious recruitment problems at all levels, particularly in specialist engineering positions. One significant development has been the requirement placed on Network Rail’s contractors to employ more staff directly and rely less on agencies, in an attempt to improve standards in the quality of new build, with the in-house management of maintenance also calling for new staff. In addition, Network Rail recently announced a new recruitment campaign to bring more talented women to the company, initially by focusing on attracting them to its award-winning Advanced Apprenticeship scheme (you can read more about this in ‘Despatches’, on page XX). There is a lot of competition for train driver positions, with many of the companies actively seeking to recruit them. The job has come a long way from the schoolboy dream, with today’s driver having a critical safety role, and undergoing a rigorous aptitude test and training programme. Qualifications are less important than the ability to think clearly and concentrate, and rewards reflect the importance of the person in the cab, who can attract a salary of around £35,000. WANT TO BE A TRAIN DRIVER? If you are interested in becoming a train driver, you can also download an advice sheet from the website of GoSkills, the Sector Skills Council for passenger transport (see ‘Key contacts’, below). TOCs are also finding it difficult to recruit customer service staff to work at stations and on trains. These positions need few formal qualifications, but they do require an ability to deal with the travelling public. Network Rail has a significant shortage of signallers and is always seeking new recruits. As with driving, the job of regulating train movements demands attention to detail rather than a long list of qualifications. Infrastructure maintenance organisations employ a small core staff, and there are vacancies for workers to maintain the track and signalling structures. Skill levels vary from technical staff with engineering experience and qualifications, to gangs of track maintainers who need physical strength and can work in all weathers. Many specialist agencies work under contract to supply such people. This can provide flexible working, good pay rates and entry into the industry. There are also management and engineering opportunities. Railways are very much a people business, with many staff and even more passengers, and there is significant demand for experienced customer service managers. It is also a business that relies on getting the most out of limited physical resources, so those with a logistics background are in demand. Academic qualifications and practical experience help to secure the better-paid management positions. But the most serious skill shortage remains in the engineering functions, and this is likely to be the case for many years to come. A good way to get more information about vacancies is via the internet. All the train operators are linked through one central National Railways site operated by the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) and virtually all the companies’ home pages include a job opportunities list. Network Rail has its own site with job opportunities pages (see ‘Key contacts’, below). It is less simple to check for vacancies with subcontractors because these companies rely heavily on agency staff. There are many agencies, and several have websites offering work in maintenance, as well as other short-term contract work at stations and on trains. GoSkills has recently taken over responsibility for the railways and is developing vocational qualifications for the industry. Its website includes a database that links jobs within the rail industry and describes career routes (see www.careersinpassengertransport.org). National occupational standards, apprenticeships and NVQs/SVQs at levels 1, 2 and 3 have been developed for people working in:
– signal engineering
Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC), 3rd Floor, 40 Bernard Street, London WC1N 1BY Tel: 0207 841 8000 Website: www.atoc.org GoSkills, Concorde House, Trinity Park, Solihull, West Midlands B37 7UQ Tel: 0121 635 5520 Website: www.goskills.org Network Rail, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9AG Tel: 0207 557 8000 Website: www.networkrail.co.uk  
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
