Rail Industry

Recent restructuring, accidents, timetable changes, delays and funding issues highlight the fact that the organisation adopted when BR was split into more than 260 separate private companies employing 180,000 people has been as controversial as the very idea of selling this national asset.

Railtrack took over responsibility for running the existing national rail network, inheriting 5,500 signallers at over 1,100 signal boxes across mainland UK, and the legal responsibility to operate the trains safely. It was sold with substantial property including 21,000 miles of track, 9,000 level crossings (850 of them manned), nearly 40,000 bridges and viaducts, 600 tunnels containing 250 miles of track, 2,500 stations and depots, on 57,000 hectares of land. 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.

Finally, 25 (now 21) passenger train operation companies (TOCs) were created along with one rail freight operator to run 25,000 trains every day, carrying nearly 3 million passengers and over 400,000 tonnes of freight. More than 70 per cent of all rail journeys start or finish in London. The TOCs were sold off as franchises to companies that contracted to operate the services. Despite criticism of this structure, it remains intact and unchanged, with many major companies entering the new private rail industry.

New infrastructure work is dominated by well-known construction concerns while the leasing companies are now owned by high-profile finance houses. Among train operating companies, there has been consolidation and change with well-known bus and coach operators dominant.

Unprecedented investment has taken place in hundreds of new trains that are now entering service (4,700 coaches costing nearly $5 billion so that the average age of the fleet has reduced since 1996 from 23 to 13 years). A 1 million-minute reduction in delay minutes in 2003/04 has continued, so that delays now stand at their lowest for four years. During the last 10 years there has been a rise of nearly 50 per cent in the number of passenger miles travelled on the railways – a staggering 26 billion in more than 1 billion journeys. National Rail Enquiries handles 1 million calls a week, while 2.2 million railcards now provide discounted travel. This demand has caused some serious growing pains. Just like the roads the network has become clogged with traffic, causing delay and putting pressure on operations.

Perhaps the most crucial issue has been questions over safety. Crashes and loss of life have been blamed on track failures while, more recently, terrorist attacks and consequent counter-measures have been hot topics. The fact remains that rail travel is safer than most other forms of movement, with road statistics making other transport horror stories appear insignificant.

Railtrack was placed in administration after government funding was withdrawn, but it is now back in business, fully owned by Network Rail, a new not-for-dividend organisation. Recent plans make Network Rail the single point of accountability for rail performance, and give it the responsibility for explaining and accounting for performance to the public, while the train operators remain accountable to their passengers. It manages 17 of the largest stations, with 640 million passengers a year, while the TOCs lease the others in their operating area. (Over 50 per cent of stations now have CCTV surveillance, while 2,500 police and nearly 1,000 other staff provide security on the network.) It spends £14 million a day maintaining and improving rail infrastructure, including that of 26 key strategic routes.

Network Rail operates within a regulated environment, which means that it is accountable to:

• train and freight operating customers under access contracts and the network code
• the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) through a regulated network and station licences and under statute, focusing on its stewardship of the network to determine the level of funding required and, eventually, rail safety
• the providers of public funds, which give grants directly to Network Rail and subsidise the train operating companies.

Railways in the Services

A regular Royal Logistic Corps Railway Squadron is based at Bicester, with soldiers training on 43 miles of track and placements with companies like Virgin Trains and Network Rail.

Many military movements use rail transport, large supply depots will often include loading and unloading facilities, and the use of troop and medical evacuation trains are quite normal. Indeed, establishing a railhead, as well as a port and airhead, is an early priority in any expeditionary operation to enable bulk shipment of manpower and material.

Employment in railways

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 even more common. New and improved railway lines are planned for the near future and rail travel is definitely here to stay. Careers are generally split into four employment areas:

1. technical and engineering
2. operations
3. customer facing
4. management.

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 and 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.

There has been a long-standing shortage of train drivers 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 over £30,000.

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. Like a driver, 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 qualification 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 people 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 through the Internet. All the train operators are linked through one central National Railways site operated by the Association of Train Operating Companies and virtually all the companies’ home pages include a job opportunities list. Network Rail has its own site with job opportunities pages.

It is less simple to check on the vacancies in sub-contractors 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, the Sector Skills Council for Passenger Transport, 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. National Occupational Standards are being developed for people working in:

• rail engineering

– signal engineering

– maintenance, installation and renewal of electrification and plant assets

– telecoms engineering

– maintenance and repair of traction and rolling stock

– maintenance and renewal of the permanent way

• rail transport operations.

Contact details

GoSkills, Concorde House, Trinity Park, Solihull, West Midlands B37 7UQ Tel: 0121 635 5520 Website: www.goskills.org

Association of Train Operating Companies, 3rd Floor, 40 Bernard Street, London WC1N 1BY Tel: 020 7841 8000 Website: www.atoc.org

Network Rail, 40 Melton Street, London NW1 2EE Tel: 020 7557 8000 Website: www.networkrail.co.uk

Been there done that…

Richard Lungmuss

Ex-Royal Artillery Lieutenant Colonel Richard Lungmuss is now ‘responsible for all aspects of the maintenance of Scotland’s railway infrastructure.’ This includes the safety and management of 2,000 personnel, delivering an annual budget in excess of £100 million and performance of the signalling and track assets. The role also includes interfacing with Network Rail and train operators to ensure safe and reliable operation.

Twenty-one years’ service in Germany, Oman, Northern Ireland, UK, Bosnia and the Falkland Islands had provided ‘leadership and management training, the ability to talk directly to all levels of staff, decision making and the ability to plan and deliver.’ He had also gained an Open University Diploma in Project Management and attended the Staff College – ‘an MBA equivalent.’

By April 1999, however, ‘career progression had slowed, while the turbulence was affecting wife and children.’ A PRINCE 2 project management course, extensive networking, application for interesting roles, and personal recommendation led to an appointment as Project Director of the CAMPUS project; completely renewing Lufthansa’s IT hardware and software worldwide.

For the last eight months, Lungmuss has been Territory Maintenance Director Scotland, enjoying ‘responsibility, varied and challenging aspects of the role, and the chance to make a difference through leadership and management. It is absolutely the sort of role that I left the Forces to undertake, and I am earning at least 3 times what I could have expected at this stage of my career in the Forces.’