Opinion

Crossrail needs You! Railway to be focus of drive to bring young into rail

Christine Townley

A new railway like Crossrail is a huge opportunity to attract young people into the industry and open up the eyes of those along the route to a future career they may not have known was open to them, writes Christine Townley.

And to that end the Construction Youth Trust is working in partnership with Network Rail on an exciting new programme called Budding Brunels Rail. The project adapts our industry-recognised Budding Brunels course to engage young people and communities along the Crossrail lines in East and West London.

The programme’s aim is to develop industry awareness and employability skills for local young people, creating opportunities to feed into Network Rail’s apprenticeship and graduate schemes. Through working in a wide range of communities, including schools with a higher than national average percentage of students eligible for Free School Meals, and girls schools, we will also help to inspire a more diverse workforce.

"The programme’s aim is to develop industry awareness and employability skills for local young people, creating opportunities to feed into Network Rail’s apprenticeship and graduate schemes."

Budding Brunels Rail aims to raise awareness of the industry to over 1000 young people within schools and colleges surrounding the Crossrail works to develop a positive image of the industry and promote the wealth of professional careers available through Higher Education and apprenticeship routes. We will work with around 180 students interested in exploring what the industry could offer them.

Across six of our standard three-day Open College Network accredited programmes, students will meet inspirational figures currently working in the industry in apprentice, graduate and senior roles and hear about the routes of progression the industry provides.

Students will also be given a unique opportunity to tour the major infrastructure works along the route whilst also developing their employability skills through a series of activities around interview skills and professional expectations. Each project will culminate in interviews with staff from Network Rail to select a number of students to move into valuable work experience opportunities with Network Rail.

A unique part of the Budding Brunels Rail programme is the development of a Crossrail Club, an alumni network for participating students interested in pursuing a career in the industry. The Club will enable them to have a channel through which they can voice their experiences, receive newsletter updates, gain dedicated on-going careers advice and guidance and act as Trust ambassadors, engaging with future beneficiaries within their community to share experiences and promote the project.

To find out more information please contact Yolanda Adamson on yolanda.adamson@cytrust.org.uk

Christine Townley is executive director of The Construction Youth Trust