Eighteen young people embark on engineering career with Northern

The group, who are all studying for a qualification in rail engineering at Myerscough College in Preston, are part of the National Training Academy for Rail.

Over the next three years, they will complete specialist technical training in how to service, repair and maintain Northern’s fleet of 360 trains.

Once qualified, the apprentices will have the necessary experience to apply for a variety of roles with the train operator, including maintenance engineer and technical engineer. 

Since 2020, Northern has supported 88 people through an engineering apprenticeship.

Recruitment for this year’s in-take began back in January, when hundreds of young people applied to the scheme.

Paul Wilkinson, engineering apprenticeship manager at Northern, said: “A regular in-take of apprentices is really important because it means we’re nurturing a future generation of talent.

“Supporting young people to get the skills and experience required to support not only our business, but the railway as a whole, is really fulfilling and I look forward to working with all of our new apprentices over the next three years.”

Jessica Townsend, one of the apprentices based at Northern’s TrainCare Centre in Hull said: “I’m really excited to get hands-on experience and get to know the people I’ll be working with at Northern.”

Northern currently has more than 660 colleagues on apprenticeship programmes across its driving, conducting, engineering and business support operations. 

This year alone, it has plans to enrol a further 467 people onto an apprentice qualification.

For more information about their various apprenticeship schemes, visit: northernrailway.co.uk/careers/early-careers/apprenticeships. 

For more information about careers with Northern, visit: northernrailway.co.uk/careers.

Northern is the second largest train operator in the UK, with nearly 2,500 services a day to more than 500 stations across the North of England.