From classroom to carriage: future engineers tour train care centre in Leeds

The team at Neville Hill TrainCare Centre gave a group of 15 fabrication and welding pupils from Calderdale college a tour of its facilities, where they met engineers and apprentices.

Every day, a team of engineers and support staff at Neville Hill service 34 trains from nine different fleets and carry out more than 500 safety and service critical tasks. Their work supports 260 direct and 825 indirect passenger services a day. Four apprentices shared their experiences and talked about the opportunities a career in the railway can offer.

In the last six years, more than 2,500 people have graduated from Northern’s trainee and apprenticeships schemes with 1,500 conductors and nearly 1,100 train drivers entering service.

Andy Marden, TrainCare Centre manager at Neville Hill depot said: “This is such an exciting sector to be a part of and it has been brilliant to show the students around our facility here in Leeds.

“Each and every one of them has the potential to be an industry leader of the future – bringing their skills, talent and ideas to the table. In 2022, Northern was officially recognised by OFSTED as a ‘Main Provider’ of apprenticeships, a status that enables it to offer its services to other train operators and rail industry organisations.

For more information about apprenticeships at Northern visit its website.