Tuesday 19 Jul 2016
Network Rail visits Bolton school to encourage pupils to become the engineers of the future
- Region & Route:
- | North West & Central
Network Rail engineers from the North West Electrification Programme visited St Mary’s Primary School in Horwich, Bolton, last week to raise awareness of the range of career opportunities in engineering.
Senior project engineers Jennifer Gilleece and Peter Sommers attended the school which participates in the Primary Engineer Programme, a not-for-profit organisation which encourages young people to consider careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
As well as hearing about how Jennifer and Peter shaped their careers in telecommunications and electrical engineering, pupils also learned about other types of engineering, including work on the nearby upgrade of the Manchester to Preston via Bolton railway line.
As part of its Railway Upgrade Plan, Network Rail is electrifying the railway between Manchester and Preston which will pave the way for faster more frequent train services from December 2017.
Jennifer Gilleece, senior project engineer at Network Rail, said: “The visit to St Mary’s allowed us to speak to pupils about engineering, safety and the railway. They were shown clips of various rail engineering projects involving overhead line equipment, track, telecoms and signalling to understand the day-to-day role of our engineers. It also gave us ample opportunity to discuss rail safety with the pupils to help keep them safe when they are near the railway.”
Deputy head teacher Anne-Marie Davies, said : “Network Rail came into school last week to encourage our pupils to consider careers in engineering. The aim was to inspire the children from an early age to enjoy STEM subjects identifying their value and importance to engineering. The children were keen to ask Peter and Jennifer questions. The whole school thoroughly enjoyed the visit and presentation, remembering the important rail safety message when questioned later."
Contact information
Passengers / community members
Network Rail national helpline
03457 11 41 41
Latest travel advice
Please visit National Rail Enquiries
Journalists
Network Rail press office - North West & Central Region
07740 782954
NWCmediarelations@networkrail.co.uk
About Network Rail
We own, operate and develop Britain's railway infrastructure; that's 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations. We run 20 of the UK's largest stations while all the others, over 2,500, are run by the country's train operating companies.
Usually, there are almost five million journeys made in the UK and over 600 freight trains run on the network. People depend on Britain's railway for their daily commute, to visit friends and loved ones and to get them home safe every day. Our role is to deliver a safe and reliable railway, so we carefully manage and deliver thousands of projects every year that form part of the multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan, to grow and expand the nation's railway network to respond to the tremendous growth and demand the railway has experienced - a doubling of passenger journeys over the past 20 years.
Follow us on Twitter: @networkrail
Visit our online newsroom: www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk