The Heavy Rail is viewed as a broad range of engineering, retail, operations and service industries connected by common interests.  Different companies, with expertise in these areas, interact with each other through a common business interest in running train services. There are three broad areas of employment in the industry:

• 47,000 – Train Operating Companies (TOCs) and Freight Operating Companies (FOCs) which have responsibility for the rail industry.  The TOCs act under a franchise agreement with government, and are responsible for the running of passenger services.
• 32,000 – Network Rail which owns the rail infrastructure and is responsible for the engineering maintenance of signals and track (permanent way) and train movements.
• 80,000 – Suppliers of infrastructure and engineering which includes the owners of the rolling stock (leasing companies), construction companies creating and upgrading the permanent way and training suppliers.

The industry includes: train operating companies; London underground; network rail; supply; engineering; heritage railways; Eurostar; and the Channel Tunnel.  Some specific job roles include:

• train driver
• shunt driver
• revenue protection
• retail and tickets (on train & off train)
• platform staff
• maintenance staff
• station manager

In total the industry employs approximately 159,000 people.  However, not all of these employees would directly fall into GoSkills’ footprint, therefore there is an estimated 56,000 employees in the industry.

Recruitment difficulties are the result of a shortage of applicants with the right skills.  The majority of companies reported little or no change in employee numbers (92%).

Workforce demographics:

• 13% of the UK workforce is female, 20% in Wales, 18% in Scotland, 13% in England, and a ‘mainly male’ workforce in Northern Ireland
• approximately half of London Underground’s workforce are from Black and Minority Ethnic groups
• in the rail industry in general there are very few employees from ethnic minority groups
• the average of the workforce is 39.4 years
• about 40% of the rail workforce (excluding Scotland) is over 45 years of age
• 45% of rail drivers are aged between 35-44 years
• in the Scottish rail industry workforce 40% of the workforce is over 45 years
• high proportions of older staff are in retail (46%), supervisory (47%) and cleaning (50%) positions

Workforce statistics:

• 40% of employees were offered training by their employer
• 11% of the workforce has no qualifications
• 55% of UK rail transport employees have an NVQ Level 2 or higher qualification
• 17% are qualified to NVQ Level 4 or higher

No current skill needs have been identified in the sector.  Future skills needs identified by companies as increasingly important included: leadership (70% of companies); people management (70%); and customer service skills (60%).  83% of operating companies, however, anticipated future skills needs in leadership and people management.  8% of companies reported a lack of external training provision as a barrier to staff training.  41% of the England workforce had been offered training, 65% in Scotland, 71% in Wales and 51% in Northern Ireland.

Future issues and needs:

• Government white paper ‘Future of Transport’ (2004) sets out an image of a stable foundation for a reliable, safe and efficient rail industry supported by light rail
• New technology to contribute to an efficient system, generating the need for more training
• Transport system to meet the needs of travellers and businesses, but also the 2012 Olympic Games
• Affordable and clean transportation of people and goods
• Risks of growing legislative pressures, increasing energy costs, changing stakeholder expectations and shifting government economic priorities
• A skilled workforce

Source: Data from GoSkills 2007, LMI Industry fact sheets 2006 and GoSkills Skills Needs Assessment (stage 1) sector summary 2006a