EUROPE: Former European Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc and Danish national operator DSB were the winners of the two annual awards handed out by trade associations CER and UNIFE at the European Railway Award in Brussels on January 29.
Now in its 17th year, the 2024 awards reflected the upcoming European Year of Skills. Former Commissioner Bulc was awarded the event’s Rail Champion prize for her work promoting women in transport professions, while the Rail Trailblazer prize went to DSB for its work in changing the profile and educational skillset needed for drivers on the København S-bane network, which is in the process of being automated through the roll-out of CBTC.
‘I am deeply honoured and profoundly touched by the award given to me by the railway community, which I perceive as a testament to the dedicated efforts of the entire transport ecosystem during my tenure’, said Bulc, who was Transport Commissioner in 2014-19.
UNIFE President Philippe Citroen noted her role in supporting the launch of the Shift2Rail research joint undertaking, securing a clear remit for the EU Agency for Railways and promoting digitalisation of rail operations and the uptake of ERTMS.
On the topic of gender diversity in the rail sector, Bulc reminded attendees that ‘women are not better or worse, but they are different’, insisting that issues such as ‘workplace cleanliness, proper facilities including separate bathrooms, and parental leave’ all needed to be recognised as critical when the industry is seeking to recruit and retain more women. Reflecting on her experience at the European Commission, she explained that under the term of Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, targets to employ more women in top Cabinet positions were met ‘simply because we invited them’.
S-bane trailblazer
DSB’s award was accepted by the operator’s Chief Executive Flemming Jensen. He reported that as part of the upcoming shift to attended ATO operation, the time required for the driver training process had been cut from 12 months to approximately 10 weeks.
In rethinking the personality profile of the future S-tog driver, Jensen said the company had actively sought out ‘employees who look like the Danes we see in the street’, insisting that DSB staff ‘had to be a reflection of Danish society’. This meant that new recruits would include more women and more ethnic diversity.
‘We tried to take all the masculine words out of the job adverts, and have female drivers in the interview process’, he added. However, the recruitment programme also focused on the changing nature of the driving task.
‘In a CBTC world, the driver does not need to take so many decisions — they know the system is safe and can operate the train on its own. What we need are people who have a view of the whole operation of the service, and who are strong at monitoring the functions of technology.’ Looking ahead, he said DSB would continue to work to make ‘driving roles meaningful and purposeful’, and that automation should not be seen as a threat to the careers of frontline personnel.
‘Running out of talent’
In a panel discussion around the presentations, Magda Kopczyńska, Director-General of the European Commission’s transport executive DG Move, struck a realistic tone when urging the sector to acknowledge that ‘transport is not an attractive industry’ for young people, especially given the perception that many jobs require antisocial hours or physical labour.
“I think if we don’t get this equation right in a better way, we are going to run out of talent. We should be ensuring we can get more women into the industry in a range of roles, from engineering, computer science and mathematics.@michaelmppeter @SiemensMobility #EURA2024 pic.twitter.com/UkrtzWFrWO
— EuropeanRailwayAward (@EU_RailwayAward) January 29, 2024
Her fellow panellist, UNIFE Chair and Siemens Mobility CEO Michael Peter, added that the rail skills shortage was an existential risk that had to be urgently addressed. ‘This is an educational and societal question — in Germany, half as many young people are enrolling in mechanical and electrical engineering courses at university as did in 2011.’ He suggested one option could be to look more laterally at how rail companies find the skills they need. ‘If we don’t get this equation right in a better way, we are going to run out of talent. We should be ensuring we can get more women into the industry in a range of roles, from engineering, computer science and mathematics.’
ÖBB Chief Executive and CER Chair Andreas Matthä meanwhile highlighted statistics showing that 40% of Austrian Federal Railways’ staff could retire in the next five years. ‘Clearly this is a huge problem’, he admitted, ‘but it is also an opportunity. With this level of staff turnover, the organisational culture of the railway will not be the same in the future as it was in the past.’
He urged the industry to consider the role that recent migrants to Europe could play in resolving some of the personnel shortages. ‘We need to integrate migrants into our economy and employment culture’, he added. ‘We need these people.’
- The final recommendations of the EU’s STAFFER programme are due to be released in Q3 2024. The Skill Training Alliance For the Future European Rail system partnership of 32 organisations from across the transport, policy and education sectors was launched in late 2020 to address the rail industry’s current and emerging skills and training needs.
