Media centre

Wednesday 24 Jun 2015

Apprentices join the front line to deliver railway upgrade plan

Region & Route:

| Eastern: Anglia

| Eastern

A total of 12 new apprentices have joined railway maintenance teams in the east of England to start their on-the-job training after successfully completing their first year of the award-winning Network Rail Advanced Apprenticeship Scheme.

They are among almost 200 apprentices across Britain, who recently finished their first year of training at Europe’s largest engineering training facility at HMS Sultan in Gosport, Hampshire.  

There apprentices specialise in track, signalling, telecoms and electrification. During their second and third years they continue to earn while they learn and experience work on the rail network’s front line, gaining vital experience as they train to become maintenance technicians. Throughout this time they regularly return to HMS Sultan for further courses and training.

Neal Lawson, maintenance and operations services director at Network Rail, said: “We are investing £38bn building a better railway for Britain and to meet this challenge, we need highly capable people. By developing the enthusiasm and talent of our apprentices, we are creating the skilled workforce vital to our future success. I wish all of them good luck as they continue to build their skills and knowledge and help us move more than four million people across Britain every day.”

Bradley Walker from Essex is a second year apprentice and specialises in track. The 23-year-old said: “Don't be frightened by the word engineer – it's not just grease and spanners. There are so many routes this could take me. There is a national shortage of engineers, so this is a great time to get into it.”

The apprentices have joined teams in Ely, Ipswich, Tottenham, Norwich and Romford. 

Network Rail’s Advanced Apprenticeship Scheme is open to applicants over 17 years of age and has no upper age limit. Apprentices come from all over the nation and range from those who have just left school or college to those changing careers. All share an interest in engineering.

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Notes to Editors 

About the Network Rail advanced apprenticeship scheme:

It is a three-year programme that equips you with the skills and experience to become a maintenance engineering technician. www.facebook.com/ontrack

There are five engineering programmes: track, signals, electrification and plant, signal design and telecoms. Each one gives you the chance to work in a critical area of the business, where your development will continue beyond the three years of the scheme.

Paid learning:

In the first year, apprentices will be paid £8,400 + £1,150 when they successfully finish the year; the salary will rise to £11,750 in the second; and £14,000 in the third.

In the first year, Network Rail will also feed, pay for accommodation and provide the clothing and personal protective equipment that they need. There are plenty of holidays: 28 days plus bank holidays. Network Rail will pay for apprentices to travel home for long weekends and Christmas, Easter and summer holidays.