My first post, so I guess I should start with - hi!
I've been looking around and I see there are a number of forum members who are railway staff in many different roles in the industry which is good to see.
I'm going to add myself to that list - I am Senior Mechanical Systems Engineer at Eurostar (so "hello" to any fellow EIL members if there are any...). The job is one reason I suppose that I joined this forum - to see if there is still new engineering life being injected into Britain's Railways.
There are a lot of people wanting to be train drivers or work in customer facing roles, but I'm slightly concerned that UK railway engineering doesn't get a high enough profile in the media or at educational institutions. There is a lot of good experience and knowledge around at the moment but we need to safeguard this for the future. SNCF have a very good and strong system in place for new engineers and apprentices rising through the ranks, something that comes from being a large organisation. As there is no longer a central engineering department for UK railways like in the days of the DM&EE in Derby, this kind of thing is difficult to replicate in this country with our fragmented system. I suppose apprenticeships themselves are becoming rarer in every industry, not just railways.
Anybody else in my line of work or who has thought along these lines?
I've been looking around and I see there are a number of forum members who are railway staff in many different roles in the industry which is good to see.
I'm going to add myself to that list - I am Senior Mechanical Systems Engineer at Eurostar (so "hello" to any fellow EIL members if there are any...). The job is one reason I suppose that I joined this forum - to see if there is still new engineering life being injected into Britain's Railways.
There are a lot of people wanting to be train drivers or work in customer facing roles, but I'm slightly concerned that UK railway engineering doesn't get a high enough profile in the media or at educational institutions. There is a lot of good experience and knowledge around at the moment but we need to safeguard this for the future. SNCF have a very good and strong system in place for new engineers and apprentices rising through the ranks, something that comes from being a large organisation. As there is no longer a central engineering department for UK railways like in the days of the DM&EE in Derby, this kind of thing is difficult to replicate in this country with our fragmented system. I suppose apprenticeships themselves are becoming rarer in every industry, not just railways.
Anybody else in my line of work or who has thought along these lines?