UK: Research into the feasibility of reducing the minimum age of train drivers from 20 to 18 undertaken by the Rail Safety & Standards Board has found that existing training, competence and safety systems could be deployed for younger entrants.
RSSB found that experience, rather than age, is the better predictor of driver performance, and skills like hazard perception, situational awareness and decision-making all improve with exposure to a certain task.
‘Encouraging more school leavers to take up train driving apprenticeships is what our railways need’, said RSSB CEO Mark Phillips on September 25. ’The prospect of joining the profession is more attractive to people at 18 than at 20, where the idea might be old news as you have already chosen a different path.
‘We can increase the number of people becoming train drivers as a first job and lower the average age of this vital role. Increasing the diversity and size of the candidate pool will challenge stereotypes and harness skills that are more prevalent in the next generation of career finders.’
