Thank you to everyone who attended our Skills Symposium last Thursday, 21 November. It was great to see you all and discuss important topics in the rail industry and wider.
Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson’s keynote speech
Baroness Grey-Thompson spoke about her fight to have the same experiences as everyone else on the railways and the challenges she faces as a disabled person, emphasising the need for improvement. Drawing on her incredibly successful sporting career, Baroness Grey-Thompson stressed the importance of hard work, dedication and breaking down tasks into manageable chunks. She was positive about the potential impact of the Great British Railways for improving rail accessibility and inclusivity.
Insights from industry leaders
Many thanks to Toufic Machnouk from Network Rail, Kelly Marklove and Phil Sherratt from the Chartered Institution of Railway Operators (CIRO), Pete Stevenson from the Edge Picture Company and Gemma Simmonds and Lucy Cooper from Colas Rail UK for their valuable insights across a range of topics.
Toufic highlighted the rich history of innovation in the rail industry and emphasised the need to continue this tradition. He argued that the sector must embrace uncertainty and put business change needs at the heart of delivery. We need to build a capability strategy and learn from other industries, such as aerospace. He acknowledged the challenges posed by the current incentive regime for public-funded bodies, which can hinder innovation. To overcome this, strong leadership is necessary to drive change and empower experts to lead innovation initiatives.
Gemma spoke about the importance Colas Rail UK places on training and how, through these efforts, they have made significant strides in improving diversity within their workforce and achieved a 75% increase in social mobility through early careers programmes. We also heard from Lucy, a degree apprentice, who shared her positive experience of doing a degree apprenticeship with Colas.
Kelly and Phil gave an overview of research CIRO has undertaken into the prominent challenges facing the railway sector – a tendency to play it safe, issues with funding allocation, a lack of transparency, the absence of a clear industrial strategy and siloed thinking that damages public perception. The report can be viewed here.
Pete from the Edge Picture Company spoke about the power of video learning in training delivery. He explained how stories help people learn and that visual is often the dominant medium for absorbing information, especially for the younger generation. Pete suggested that video could be a vital tool in meeting increased rail training demand.
Thank you also to NSAR Chief Executive Neil Robertson for chairing the Skills Symposium and launching the Annual Rail Workforce Survey 2024, which provides key insights into the workforce challenges and opportunities facing the industry. Read the report on the survey results here.