There are few industries that have a greater direct impact on the day-to-day life of the UK than rail. Millions of people rely on train services to get from A and B and without them the country's productivity would take a big hit.
This alone makes rail a rewarding industry to work in, but the sector is even more attractive when you look into what the future has in store for the country's railways.
High-speed developments
Easily the most exciting development taking place in the world of rail is the construction of the High Speed Two (HS2) rail network. It aims to bring the country's rail infrastructure, which is relatively unchanged from Victorian times, "into the 21st century". This will be achieved by constructing a high-speed line between the UK's major cities.
The first phase of the project will connect London and Birmingham and the second will extend the network to major northern cities Manchester, Sheffield and Leeds. Work on HS2 is due to begin in 2017 and the first trains are expected to start running between the capital and the Second City in 2026. Phase two will get underway some point after the completion of the first stage.
While the HS2 project has not been warmly received by everyone, the government expects it to provide a vast range of advantages for the country. These include generating £59.8 billion of user benefits through the extra speed, reliability and comfort provided by the service, as well as £13.3 billion through wider economic benefits such as improving provincial cities' connection to the capital.
There's certainly going to be plenty of positives from a rail jobs perspective. A high number of people will be employed in both stages of the HS2's development in a variety of roles. Indeed, the second stage of the project is expected to create 1,400 operation and maintenance jobs alone. There will likely be a significant number of roles created once the network is operational too, ranging from customer service jobs to signal conductors.
It's safe to say HS2 is the most exciting thing to have happened to British rail in a long time and for anyone hoping to get involved with the project, now could be an ideal time to start a career in the industry.
Ongoing improvements
Rail has more going for it than just HS2, however. It goes without saying that train services in the UK are not always as good as they could be. Earlier this year, Network Rail was fined a record £53 million for failing to meet Office of Rail Regulation targets regarding the punctuality of trains. The organisation was tasked with ensuring 92 per cent of services arrived on time in 2013-14, but fell short with only 87 per cent of trains avoiding delays.
While this isn't exactly good news for the UK's passengers, it could be seen as a positive from a rail jobs perspective. The rail network clearly has room for improvement and it will only achieve this by hiring the best people in all of the different roles that make up the industry. Network Rail has already invested £10 billion in improvements over the past five years and with more projects sure to follow, there will continue to be interesting options for employment within the sector. Indeed, even the £53 million the organisation has been fined is being invested in a new venture - the development of faster Wi-Fi for commuter trains in England and Wales.
Are you keen to get on board with the rail industry's bright future? If so, Unity Recruitment can help. Contact us today and we can talk about the rail job opportunities we have on offer.
