Nexus, which owns and manages the Tyne and Wear Metro, has given its new apprentices the chance to get first-hand experience of operating multi-million pound railway maintenance equipment.
Ten first year apprentices, who are part of the three-year Nexus Apprenticeship Scheme, got the chance to observe and understand the safe operation of specialist Road Rail Vehicles (RRVs) in a railway environment.
The apprentices are not yet qualified to operate the vehicles on the Metro system, but they were able to give them a try under careful supervision on a stretch of track at the Stephenson Railway Museum in North Tyneside,
Nexus, which is currently in the process of recruiting ten more apprentices, strives to make its learning experiences as realistic as possible at all times.
The training is something Nexus runs every year. All of the equipment that the apprentices got to operate is used to maintain the Metro system all year round.
Head of Maintenance Delivery for Nexus, Phil Kirkland, said: “These apprentices will one day be responsible for maintaining the Tyne and Wear Metro system, so it’s essential that we make their training as hands on as possible.
“They will have to operate these vehicles one day so we want them to see what is involved as early as possible.
“The tracks at the Stephenson Railway Museum are ideal. The main benefit is that apprentices get the sense of being on or about a railway in a semi-working environment – as real as we can safely make it.
“They also get the chance to see and work with the very latest railway engineering technology.”
Geoff Woodward, Manager of North Tyneside Museums at Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums said: “The heritage railway at the Stephenson Railway Museum provides a perfect environment for apprentices to learn railway skills. We're delighted to be working with Nexus and helping to train the next generation of railway workers.”
A total of ten apprentices are being sought to join the Nexus Apprenticeship Scheme in the autumn of 2015. Nexus expanded the scheme in 2013 with the aim of taking on ten apprentices a year, over a three year period.
Applications for this year’s intake opened on Friday, 2 January, and will remain open until the end of March.
The apprenticeship programme, designed and delivered in partnership with Gateshead College, offers an ideal opportunity to start a career in rail engineering.
The successful applicants will carry out training at Gateshead College and at the Nexus rail engineering base at South Gosforth in Newcastle.
Nexus is looking for new recruits interested in building a long-term career with the public body which owns, manages and is modernising the Tyne and Wear Metro in a £389m investment programme.
The competition for places is expected to be fierce. Last year Nexus received over 400 hundred applications which met the minimum requirements for the scheme, and the field had to be whittled down to just ten people.
Nexus has a long history of employing apprentices but has more than doubled the size of its programme from four to ten new starters per year since 2013, to ensure vital skills are retained as the profile of its current rail engineering workforce gets older.
To apply for the Nexus Apprentice Scheme click here.