Next generation of London rail engineers start their training on unique Thameslink apprentice scheme

Tuesday 12 Aug 2014

Next generation of London rail engineers start their training on unique Thameslink apprentice scheme

Region & Route:: | Southern

An unemployed teenager from Dartford is among 12 young people recruited from the greater London area to work on the government’s £6.5billion Thameslink Programme.

William Allen, 17, from Dartford, joined fellow new apprentices at London Bridge and took part in an engineering challenge a month before starting their training. The apprenticeship programme is the only scheme in the UK to teach traditional railway maintenance skills and offer practical experience on a high profile, cutting-edge engineering project, greatly enhancing their long term career prospects.

The new recruits range in age between 17 and 25 and have been drawn from the area local to the programme, including:

William Allen, 17, Dartford – signalling
Liam Evans, 19, Buckhurst Hill - signalling
Charlie White, 20, Dagenham – track
Gervaise Mckinnon, 25, East Acton - track
Vikash Chavada, 21, Streatham - electrification and plant

They will spend a year at the joint Network Rail / Royal Navy training facility at HMS Sultan in Gosport before completing the final two years of their training working on the Britain’s biggest station redevelopment. Recruited by Network Rail, Balfour Beatty Rail and Siemens Rail Automation they will specialise in disciplines ranging from signalling, telecoms and track maintenance to electrification & plant.

William wasn’t able to find a job when he left school and after spending over a year unemployed is super excited that he will join the Thameslink Programme in September. William said: “I got a taste for engineering at school after making and racing electric go-carts. I applied for the apprenticeship as I really like the idea of learning on the job, and I am really excited by the opportunity to work on one of Britain’s biggest projects.”

During his visit to the site, William also met a number of the current crop of apprentices who were on hand to give advice to the new recruits and to talk about how they have found their first year on the Thameslink apprenticeship scheme. Jerome Campbell, a track apprentice, said: “The Network Rail advanced apprentice scheme offers so many avenues and different steps and paths you can take once you have your apprenticeship. They start from the bottom and build you up and develop you, and at the end of the day what you’re learning is priceless”

Welcoming the new recruits, Clare Moriarty, director general of the Department for Transport’s rail executive, said: “The Thameslink Programme isn’t just a railway upgrade. This is a significant programme of works integrating large scale infrastructure with new trains, new signalling and rebuilding London Bridge station – and doing all this while the railway remains open.

“To make all this happen, we need people like you. Without today’s apprentices, tomorrow’s projects can’t be built.”

The Network Rail / Royal Navy training scheme complements the existing Network Rail Advanced Apprenticeship programme and the London Bridge Skills Academy. There are also a series of work placements planned for the remaining four-year life of the programme.

Notes to editors

Video case studies and photographs of this years and next years apprentices are available at ThameslinkProgramme.co.uk

Thameslink apprenticeships and training

As a direct result of the Thameslink project Network Rail have recruited significant numbers of London residents and afforded them with a range of training opportunities. To date:

38 previously workless Southwark Residents have been employed. 19 of these previously workless Southwark residents have completed 26 weeks or more employment – four are still employed on the project but are yet to complete 26 weeks of sustained employment
79 Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS) opportunities have been provided to date
Six NVQ opportunities were provided for previously workless Southwark residents
Thameslink are well on their way to meeting the target of offering 60 apprenticeships as part of the Thameslink Programme
38 apprentices are currently employed on site at London Bridge including 19 for two unique projects on Thameslink – seven at the Skills Academy and 12 for the Thameslink/HMS Sultan Scheme who are now in the second stage of their apprenticeship and are out gaining the experience pertinent to their disciplines with the Maintenance Delivery Units
12 apprentices have been recruited for the 2nd cohort of the Thameslink/HMS Sultan Scheme and they start in September 2014, this in addition to the Network Rail Advanced Apprenticeship Scheme which recruits around 220 apprentices National every year. Recruitment for 3 apprenticeships underway for the 2014 intake for the Skills Academy at London Bridge. Other apprenticeship opportunities to become available through the supply chains on site at London Bridge.
28 Local Southwark residents have undertaken short courses/training and more is planning stages for the forthcoming coming months.

The 38 Network Rail apprenticeships cover diverse roles including:

Engineering roles - Signalling, Telecoms, Track Maintenance, Electrification & Plant.
Office – Business Admin, Trainee Procurement and Quantity Surveyors
Construction – Formwork, Steel Fixing, Bricklaying, Plumbing & Electrical

Contact information

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03457 11 41 41

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Journalists
Network Rail press office - South East route
020 3357 7969
southeastroutecomms@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.