Media centre

Friday 21 Mar 2025

Railway training facility set to be complete this summer

Region & Route:

Eastern

| Eastern: East Coast

A new railway training facility in Doncaster continues to take shape and is set to be complete this summer.

Network Rail took over the building in late 2024 and since then have been making plans to transform the building so it can be used to train railway workers from across the industry.

The site, in Carolina Way near Lakeside, was once the former National College for Advanced Transport and Infrastructure and will soon open as a hub for operational training, education and development for up to 1,000 rail workers each year.

Laura Smith, Network Rail’s programme manager for the new training centre, said: “We are proud to be opening our new training facility in Doncaster, a city with huge railway heritage, and in a year when we are celebrating the 200^th anniversary of the railway.

“The facility will allow us to provide top class training to current and future colleagues across the railway industry.”

City of Doncaster Council’s Mayor Ros Jones, said: “This is great news for the rail industry in offering further training facilities and a centre of excellence in Doncaster. To have such renowned rail leaders using this bespoke building as their training hub is great news and furthers our training and skills opportunities in the city. 

“I am looking forward to visiting the site as it gets ready for its students over the coming months. This is sure to be a great partnership and I would like to thank everyone at the council and at Network Rail for making this happen.” 

Continuing the use of the site in post-16 education would support Doncaster’s Education and Skills 2030 strategy opening up opportunities towards local and skilled employment that will benefit Doncaster’s economy.