Making Changes
July 21, 2020
Network Rail Training responds to changing needs
Caption: Our training centre for apprentices
As Network Rail works through the coronavirus pandemic, listening and responding to feedback continues to be an important part of supporting colleagues and the wider rail industry.
In the past 12 months, Network Rail has been making improvements based on feedback received as part of feedback exercises carried out in 2019. Colleagues across Network Rail took part to give their feedback and to highlight areas of the organisation in need of improvement. Network Rail Training has used the feedback to make changes.
Tailor-made:
Training has become more agile and localised with courses now delivered across 230 locations. For the first time, Network Rail is delivering tailored role-based training for key maintenance roles and is recruiting a team of senior railway engineers to deliver the training – just one way that Training's Future Capability team is exploring change and working with Training Delivery to prepare colleagues for tomorrow's railway.
Maintenance skills training has nearly doubled and is expected to exceed 110,000 days per year in Network Rail – up from 67,000 days – making Network Rail Training the largest training organisation in the rail industry. Initial signaller training delivery has grown by 60 per cent from 310 to 495 places a year to satisfy customer demand, and is set to increase to 800 in 2020/21.
Training tools:
Network Rail's eLearning site has been upgraded to Moodle Workplace so colleagues can access mandatory eLearning courses on their laptops, tablets or mobile devices. A new eLearning app will be launched later this year (2020) so Network Rail colleagues can download eLearning courses and complete their training anytime, anywhere. Personal Track Safety (PTS) courses are now available every two weeks in each region.
The course offering has expanded, with more than 1,000 courses and over 165 online learning courses now available. This is helping Network Rail colleagues and the wider industry to operate a safe and reliable railway.
Mark Tarry, business services director, Route Services, said: "Training is fundamental to developing and strengthening operational capabilities in the organisation, so we are making significant changes to support colleagues and help the wider industry to prepare their people for the future of Britain's railway."
