Rail Forum East Midlands

Challenge:

In 2016, the Department for Transport’s ‘Transport Infrastructure Skills Strategy’ highlighted these statistics:

• Fewer than one fifth of employees in the rail industry are under 30, with nearly half over 45

• Only 2.5% of all employed 16–24-year-olds in the UK work within the transport industry

• Women represent just 20% of the rail industry as a whole, and only 4.4% of rail engineering

Despite a lot of investment in the rail industry in the last decade through exciting new projects such as Crossrail and High Speed 2, the government has forecast a skills shortage of 55,000 workers by 2020. How can we present the rail industry in a fun and engaging way so that it would appeal to young people as a future career option?

Solution:

The iRail programme was born to engage students aged 13 to 18 to showcase the many career opportunities available in the rail industry. A series of in-school workshops run across the East Midlands region throughout the academic year and finish with a finale event where a rail challenge is judged by leading experts from the regions rail industry.

Legacy:

We’re proud to be supporting the regions bid for Derby to become the Headquarters of Great British Railways: https://gbrtt.co.uk/hq-competition-public-vote/ and as part of the Bid iRail and Learn by Design’s Destination Rail programmes are instrumental as being a driver of school - employer engagement and raising career aspirations in the rail industry.