Media centre

Monday 24 Aug 2009

NEW TRAINEES PUT TO WORK ON AIRDRIE-BATHGATE LINE

Region & Route:

Scotland’s Railway: Scotland

Sixteen new recruits from communities along the route of the Airdrie-Bathgate rail link will be put to work on building the new line today (Monday, August 24) after receiving their official training certification from Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Education & Lifelong Learning.

Network Rail and Carillion Construction, working with Carillion’s in-house recruitment business SkyBlue, received a huge response when they originally advertised the positions earlier this summer. The new recruits will now be among 100-plus workers drawn from the local community for the £300m*, Transport Scotland-funded, rail project.

The training programme was specifically designed in conjunction with Jobcentre Plus to take candidates from the long-term unemployed and provide industry recognised training before deploying them on-site with teams of experienced construction workers.

The successful applicants were trained in two groups of eight, funded and delivered by Skills Development Scotland at Sibbalds training yard in Blackridge. The three-week course consisted of basic health and safety, general plant and construction site training.

Ron McAulay, Network Rail director Scotland, said: “The Airdrie-Bathgate Rail Link is more than just a transport project, it will provide opportunities to people right along the route. These new recruits are just the first local residents to experience some of the economic and social benefits that the line will bring.

“Working on this project will open up new opportunities to these candidates. Not only do they have a fantastic opportunity to help build a new railway, they will learn some valuable new skills along the way.”

Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Education & Lifelong Learning, added: “This Government is committed to doing everything that it can to help people in this current economic climate through ScotAction the Scottish Government’s skills support package for providing real financial support to businesses and individuals through the recession.

“I am delighted that through the Scottish Government's impressive transport investment programme we have also been able to provide long-term economic benefits for the local economy through employing local people.

“People are our best resource and it is vital that we continue to ensure that individuals are given the opportunity to train and develop through the recession so that when the economy starts to recover we can be confident that our workforce have the skills to succeed.

“I am very pleased to have been asked to present the new recruits with their training certificates and I wish them every success in their future careers.”

SkyBlue Scotland Area Manager, Tonia Quarrell-Small, commented: “Carillion and SkyBlue, working with our partner Jobcentre Plus, have a long history of working with local people to help them gain employment within the Carillion group.”

Construction work on the closed section of the line began in earnest in May, and spans 22 km from Drumgelloch in the west to Bathgate in the east. The work has been split into five sections, each of which has its own demanding programme. The project requires the construction of 32 bridges, four stations and a variety of roads and drainage spaced out along the 22 km, many of which are being constructed simultaneously.

*At Q1 2006 costs