Overview

It would be reckless to assume that, under current economic conditions, the picture painted below is likely to look the same in a year's time. With the re-nationalisation of the East Coast Main Line due to National Express defaulting on that franchise, and also with its East Anglia rail franchise due to be terminated three years early in March 2011 and the C2C franchise due to be put up for tender, talk of again merging wheels with rails, and significant shortfalls in revenues requiring tax payer support, the future of major projects is uncertain, and the structure of the industry is under examination. However, with projects such as the revolutionary new high-speed rail network - eventually due to link London and Scotland at speeds of up to 250 mph - currently under discussion, there is certainly light at the end of the tunnel!

WHAT MAKES UP BRITAIN'S RAILWAY NETWORK?

15,795 - route kilometres

2,520 - stations

40,000 - bridges/tunnels

9,000 - level crossings

Since 1995, 25 new sections of passenger line (196 miles) and 64 new stations have been added to the network. In 2007/08 (the latest period for which figures are currently available) a total of 49 billion passenger kilometres were travelled on Britain's rail network, an increase of 41.2% compared to the 34.7 billion of a decade earlier. This is higher than at any time since before the Second World War. In the last year alone there has been an increase of 6%.

Passenger journeys in 2007/08 increased by 7% to 1.232 billion (a level not seen since 1946) and, since 1997/98, they have risen by 45.6% from 846 million. In addition, international passenger numbers on Eurostar rose from 6 million in 1997 to 8.2 million in 2007 - a jump of 36.7%. A total of 104 million long-distance rail journeys were made in 2007/08, compared to 25 million domestic air journeys. Rail therefore supports a domestic inter-city market over four times as large as air. Further information is given below.

THE SECTOR AT A GLANCE:

23,000+ - passenger trains operated every day

9,500 - passenger services run in the Greater London area each day

1,600 - freight train services run every weekday

3.38 million - passengers carried per day - 70% of whom either start or finish their journey in London

641 million - passengers moved into/out of and within London annually, which is:

1.75 million - journeys every day

826 km - average distance travelled by Britons annually

20.7 - average number of rail journeys made by Britons annually

39.9 km - average journey length

Note: figures are for 2007/08

The railways employ over 170,000 people, either directly or in supporting industries, with about 80,000 in the train operating companies (TOCs) and Network Rail. Rail is 20 times safer than car travel and about the same as air travel.

Network Rail runs the national rail network. It runs, operates and maintains 20,000 miles of track (and infrastructure), 40,000 bridges and tunnels, 18 major stations (more than half of all UK passenger journeys start or finish at one of them), 2,500 other stations (leased to train operators) and 8,200 commercial properties. To maintain this infrastructure, new regional maintenance companies were created. Thousands of trains were sold off to three new rolling stock leasing companies, which maintain the fleets and invest in new builds. The average age of the passenger rolling stock is 14.7 years - Britain has one of Europe's youngest train fleets.

Passenger TOCs were created along with rail freight operators to run close to 25,000 trains every day (1,600 of them freight), carrying nearly 3 million passengers and over 400,000 tonnes of freight (79% of the UK's coal and coal products, and 34% of our metals).

Network Rail's latest strategic business plan outlines its spending proposals for 2009-2014, and details what the company believes is required to grow and expand the railway in order to respond to the increasing demand for rail travel from both passengers and freight users. This includes:

• investment of £28.5 billion over the next five years

• a proposal to provide over 100,000 extra seats every day in around 1,700 extra carriages

• improving train service punctuality to over 92% by 2014

• halving the costs of running the railway during the ten years to 2014

• investing £7.6 billion on projects designed to relieve crowding, by lengthening platforms and increasing capacity

• spending £10.8 billion on renewals - replacing older parts of the network.

Employment in the rail industry

Fortunately, behind the headlines, the future for railways remains remarkably strong. Passenger demand remains high and is predicted to continue to grow, as road gridlock becomes ever more common. New and improved railway lines are planned for the near future, and rail travel is definitely here to stay. Careers are generally split into the following employment areas:

• technical and engineering

• operations

• driving

• customer facing

• management.

This all adds up to a growing demand for new staff on the railways, although the industry already has serious recruitment problems at all levels, particularly in specialist engineering positions. One significant development has been the requirement placed on Network Rail's contractors to employ more staff directly and rely less on agencies, in an attempt to improve standards in the quality of new build, with the in-house management of maintenance also calling for new staff.

There is a lot of competition for train driver positions, with many of the companies actively seeking to recruit them. The job has come a long way from the schoolboy dream, with today's driver having a critical safety role, and undergoing a rigorous aptitude test and training programme. Qualifications are less important than the ability to think clearly and concentrate, and rewards reflect the importance of the person in the cab, who can attract a salary of around £35,000.

TOCs are also finding it difficult to recruit customer service staff to work at stations and on trains. These positions need few formal qualifications, but they do require an ability to deal with the travelling public. Network Rail has a significant shortage of signallers and is always seeking new recruits. Like a driver, the job of regulating train movements demands attention to detail rather than a long list of qualifications.

Infrastructure maintenance organisations employ a small core staff, and there are vacancies for workers to maintain the track and signalling structures. Skill levels vary from technical staff with engineering experience and qualifications, to gangs of track maintainers who need physical strength and can work in all weathers. Many specialist agencies work under contract to supply such people. This can provide flexible working, good pay rates and entry into the industry.

There are also management and engineering opportunities. Railways are very much a people business, with many staff and even more passengers, and there is significant demand for experienced customer service managers. It is also a business that relies on getting the most out of limited physical resources, so those with a logistics background are in demand. Academic qualifications and practical experience help to secure the better-paid management positions. But the most serious skill shortage remains in the engineering functions and this is likely to be the case for many years to come.

A good way to get more information about vacancies is via the internet. All the train operators are linked through one central National Railways site operated by the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) and virtually all the companies' home pages include a job opportunities list. Network Rail has its own site with job opportunities pages (see 'Key contacts', below).

It is less simple to check for vacancies with subcontractors because these companies rely heavily on agency staff. There are many agencies, and several have websites offering work in maintenance, as well as other short-term contract work at stations and on trains.

GoSkills, the Sector Skills Council for passenger transport, has recently taken over responsibility for the railways and is developing vocational qualifications for the industry. Its website includes a database that links jobs within the rail industry and describes career routes (see www.careersinpassengertransport.org). National occupational standards, apprenticeships and NVQs/SVQs at levels 1, 2 and 3 have been developed for people working in:

• rail transport operations

• rail engineering

- signal engineering

- telecoms engineering

- maintenance and renewal of the permanent way

- maintenance and repair of traction and rolling stock

- maintenance, installation and renewal of electrification and plant assets.

KEY CONTACTS

Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC), 3rd Floor, 40 Bernard Street, London WC1N 1BY Tel: 0207 841 8000 Website: www.atoc.org

GoSkills, Concorde House, Trinity Park, Solihull, West Midlands B37 7UQ Tel: 0121 635 5520 Website: www.goskills.org

Network Rail, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9AG Tel: 020 3356 9595 Website: www.networkrail.co.uk