People often refer back to inspirational teachers from their formative years when asked why they pursued a particular career path.
Even for those who may have felt let down by their school education, there will be a trainer or mentor somewhere along the line who they owe some portion of their success too.
The demand for experienced railway trainers is as high as it has ever been. This particular period of time, where around £40 billion has been earmarked for railway projects around the country, could even be described as exceptional.
This year’s Trainer/Training Team of the Year category is being sponsored by Construction and Rail Training Ltd (CART) – a new NSAR- accredited training and assessment company looking to become a leader in its field.
Solid foundation
CART was established in 2015. The team, which have accumulated more than 40 years of experience within the rail and construction sectors, initially operated from a single site in Baldock, Hertfordshire. In just 12 months, the company has added a satellite training centre in Sheffield and is preparing to open a second in Essex.
Alex Pedley, business development and funding director at CART, believes the company is well placed to meet the training needs of the industry during the current control period.
’Strategically placed, we are able to offer railway safety critical training and assessment, construction, health and safety training and OHL electrification training and have forged a solid foundation of quality operational and delivery staff to make this happen,’ says Alex.
He went on, ‘The railway is currently delivering a £36 billion budget to enhance the daily operation and journey improvement times of all services across its network and all within an ambitious five-year timescale with one of the largest investments in electrification, which brings fantastic opportunities for industry workers, training and commuters.
‘We can appreciate that training facilities can be somewhat of a challenge for a national reach of this but we believe that our partnerships through collaboration with leading industry providers will help suffice this need.
‘Offering training both commercially and through funded provision allows our customers a cost effective solution to their training requirements whilst maintaining their employee competence levels and building upon already attained skills. This is why we aim to offer skills support for the employed and apprenticeships within both sectors to allow our customers to build a better and stronger workforce for the future.’
Exceptional work
In 2015, it was a team from Abellio Greater Anglia which won the Trainer/Training Team of the Year category for the successful implementation of a customer service training programme across the business.
‘In our field of work, we are all about two things: the quality of what we deliver and the people we are delivering to,’ says Alex. ‘We enjoy meeting and conversing with people of all walks of the railway life, and, engaging with more people will only help progress both the company as a whole and ourselves as professionals.’
He added, ‘We feel it is very important for the winners and those nominated to be recognised for the exceptional work they do. The RailStaff Awards is a fantastic platform for individuals and teams to be recognised for the work and dedication they put in to keeping the railway industry moving forwards.’
