Friday 24 Aug 2012
Young Welsh apprentices are welcomed aboard
- Region & Route:
- | Wales & Western: Wales & Borders
- | Wales & Western
Network Rail today welcomes aboard 17 young apprentices to the Wales route to commence their three-year apprenticeship programme.
They will all attend a special welcome day at the Newport Maintenance Depot at Ebbw Junction on Friday, 24 August, from 11am to 3pm.
The apprentices will be given a warm welcome by Mark Langman, Network Rail’s Route Managing Director and his team.
Mark Langman said: “I am delighted to be able to offer 17 young local people the opportunity to join the rail industry in what is an extremely exciting time for the railways here in Wales.
“We are very keen to offer employment opportunities to local people within our route and are committed to an ongoing investment in young talent as the railways across Wales grow.
“Over the next 10 years the Wales route will see huge investment and significant change including the electrification to Cardiff, Swansea and the Valley lines. The recruitment of these apprentices will play a big part in making this happen and planning for maintaining the future modernised railway.”
The apprentices are part of a 200-strong Network Rail cohort who will train at HMS Sultan, Europe’s largest engineering training facility at Gosport in Hampshire, over the next 12 months, starting in September and will continue their apprenticeship back in their ‘home depots’ within the Wales route in June 2013.
As part of the programme, all 200 Network Rail apprentices from across Great Britain will attend the Ffestiniog Railway and Welsh Highland Railway to work during the winter’s work maintenance programme.
This visit to the FR&WHR provides them with their first real experience of working on an operational railway doing the type of maintenance and repair tasks that they can expect to be doing on a day-to-day basis when working in their Network Rail depots.
Whilst the track gauge may be narrower than the national rail network, the experience gained provides the apprentices with a valuable insight into track maintenance, and enables Network Rail to make a significant contribution not only to the FR&WHR, but also to Wales and the local community by buying all services (accommodation, food, vehicle and coach hire) from businesses within the local area of Porthmadog.
Notes to editors
Network Rail’s apprentice scheme offers 200 places every year. The apprentices gain vital experience as they specialise in track, signalling, telecoms and electrification and plant.
Over the next two years they will work under supervision gaining vital experience as they train to become maintenance technicians. Throughout this time they will return to HMS Sultan for further courses and ongoing training.
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 -Western route
MediaRelationsWestern@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