Southeastern says it is the first rail operator to offer Kinship Care Leave. This applies when a child lives with a relative or close family friend, usually because their parents are not able to care for them. The leave ‘offers people the financial security of knowing they can take some time off to bond and adjust with the new young person in their life and know that their job is still there’, said Mel Marnell, a kinship carer who works at Greenwich station.
Contractor QTS Group has promoted Gary Burnett to Regional Director for England & Wales, with Barry McLeish becoming Regional Director for Scotland. Stephen Nutley is now Operations Director for Civils & Geotechnical in Scotland, and Joe Urquhart has taken on the new position of Operations Director for Reactive & Small Schemes in England & Wales. Thomas Marshall is Operations Director for Fencing and Vegetation Management in England & Wales.
A group of 25 Manchester College students have completed a four-day project management training programme run by Northern, the Rail Safety & Standards Board and Talent Foundry. This included theoretical exercises, exploring advanced project management concepts and interactive workshops in the classroom and at Northern’s Newton Heath TrainCare Centre. ‘Hopefully some of them are now thinking about taking on a rewarding career with us in the future’, said Northern’s People Director Lisa Leighton.
c2c has opened a driver academy in Southend with a Class 357 EMU simulator and a full-cab Class 720 EMU simulator.
Southeastern has announced its ‘biggest ever’ recruitment drive, seeking to recruit 600 new starters across roles including drivers, station staff, on-train personnel and engineers. Its campaign aims to break outdated perceptions of working on the railway and encourage applicants who may not have previously considered a career in rail.
Manchester’s Metrolink recorded its busiest ever month in May, with the Great Manchester Run, Manchester City’s Premier League title-winning parade and high-profile concerts taking ridership to 4·1 million passengers. The previous record of 4 million was set in November 2019.
RAIB makes two recommendations to Freightliner in its report into a signal passed at danger at Stafford Trent Valley Junction No 1 in August 2023. The first deals with reviewing risk assessments and processes for the operation of light locomotives and test runs, to better manage the operational risk. The second relates to how train drivers are trained and assessed in the skills required to manage out-of-course, abnormal and potentially stressful events. Three learning points relate to the need to comply with rules relating to locomotive speeds, requirements for the development and maintenance of route knowledge, and settings for train protection systems.
Northern has appointed Kevin Gore as the manager of the Neville Hill TrainCare Centre in Leeds from July 1. He joins from Alstom, where he has been the manager of Wembley TrainCare Centre since February 2022.
Greater Anglia’s Brampton, Derby Road, Felixstowe and Oulton Broad North stations have received Wildlife Friendly accreditation following assessment by a Suffolk Wildlife Trust Conservation Officer.
AI, analytics, IoT and computer vision company Purple Transform has appointed former Network Rail Telecoms Managing Director Simon Atterwell as Chief Operating Officer. His role will include sponsoring all activity focused on domestic and international rail networks.