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Fewer than 7% of railway workers are under 25. Here is the plan to change that

Qurexa Editorial Team15 October 20267 min read 0 0
Fewer than 7% of railway workers are under 25. Here is the plan to change that

What happened

On 15 October 2026, the government confirmed where Great British Railways will be based and opened up a new apprenticeship scheme alongside it. Up to 600 apprentices aged 16 to 21 will enrol over the next four years on a rail foundation apprenticeship. It combines on-the-job training with qualifications. The first starters will be based in Derby. The reason given for the scheme is a workforce problem. The government says fewer than 7 per cent of the railway's workforce is under 25. For an industry that needs signallers, track engineers, electricians, train drivers and control room staff for decades to come, that is a gap that becomes a crisis if nobody fills it. The scheme sits within the Youth Guarantee. The Work and Pensions Secretary, Pat McFadden, linked it to a £2.5 billion youth employment package, which the government says aims to create up to 500,000 opportunities. He said the government is determined to build a strong pipeline of skilled rail workers, and that the apprenticeship will let young people explore career paths while earning. The headquarters announcement sets the context. Great British Railways will be built at Becketwell, a brownfield site in Derby city centre. Construction is expected to start in early 2027 and finish by spring 2029. It will hold up to 450 staff. The government estimates a £151 million boost to the regional economy and hundreds of rail jobs for the city. Claire Ward, Mayor of the East Midlands, said the apprenticeships give young people a chance to build careers locally without having to move away. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said Great British Railways will unite the railway around better services for passengers, with Derby at the centre of its future. Prime Minister Andy Burnham said people should be able to rely on their train turning up.

Why this matters

If you have a sixteen-year-old who does not want to go to university, the honest problem is not a lack of advice. It is a lack of places. Apprenticeships at 16 to 18 have been the thin end of the system for years. Most apprenticeship starts go to older people, many of them already in work. Routes designed for school leavers, with proper training attached and a wage at the end, are rarer than the brochures suggest. So 600 places aimed specifically at 16 to 21 year olds, in a sector with long careers and genuine skills, is worth knowing about. The railway is also a sector where the job does not disappear. Track still needs maintaining. Signals still need fixing. Trains still need driving. These are not roles that evaporate when the economy turns, and many of them pay well with experience. The second thing that matters here is geography. The East Midlands mayor made the point directly: young people in Derby and the surrounding area would not have to move away. For anyone in Lincolnshire and the wider East Midlands, a training pipeline anchored in Derby rather than London is a real difference. It is reachable. There is a wider skills point too. A foundation apprenticeship is designed as a first step, not a final destination. Done properly, it gets someone onto a ladder: foundation, then a higher apprenticeship, then specialist qualifications. Done badly, it is a year of cheap labour. Which one it turns out to be depends on the detail of the training, and that detail is not yet published.

What the evidence actually says

Some care is needed with the figures. "Up to 600 apprentices" over four years is 150 a year across a national railway. That is meaningful for the individuals who get a place and modest against the size of the workforce. It is a start on the under-25 problem, not a solution to it. The under-7 per cent figure is the government's own, published in its announcement. It is plausible and consistent with what the rail industry has said about its ageing workforce for years, but it is a departmental figure rather than an independent statistic. The £151 million regional economic boost is a government estimate for the headquarters project. Estimates of this kind depend heavily on their assumptions, and the assumptions are not published in the press release. Treat it as an expectation, not a measurement. The £2.5 billion youth employment package and the figure of up to 500,000 opportunities cover far more than the railway. Do not read the 600 places as part of a plan that has already delivered half a million jobs. Some things in the announcement are already done and checkable. The government says fares have been frozen for the first time in 30 years, 76,000 extra seats a week have been added across the network, and a £1 billion fleet of new trains for the north is being built at Alstom's Derby site. Those are claims about things that have happened, rather than promises. The headquarters itself is a construction project with a 2027 start and a spring 2029 finish. Construction timetables slip. Nobody should plan a career around that building opening on time.

Practical advice

If you know a young person who might want this, here is what to actually do. Start with the official apprenticeship service. Search and apply for an apprenticeship at gov.uk/apply-apprenticeship. It lists live vacancies by postcode and lets you set up alerts. The rail foundation apprenticeship, when it opens, should appear there. Setting up an alert now is more useful than checking the news. Do not wait for the big scheme. The railway recruits through many employers, not just Great British Railways: Network Rail, train operators, Alstom and Siemens in manufacturing, and dozens of contractors. Network Rail runs its own apprenticeship intake each year with published deadlines, usually in the autumn and winter. Get the maths and English sorted. Nearly every apprenticeship requires a grade 4 in maths and English, or a commitment to achieve it during the apprenticeship. If those grades are a problem, a local college's functional skills course solves it, and doing that now rather than later keeps the door open. Use the National Careers Service. It is free, it includes a telephone and webchat service, and you do not need to be claiming anything to use it. Advisers can look at a specific young person's situation rather than giving general advice. Be realistic about the physical side. Many rail roles involve shift work, night work, outdoor work in all weather, and a medical including eyesight and colour vision for safety-critical posts. These are good jobs; they are not office jobs. If colour vision might be an issue, it is worth checking early with an optician rather than finding out at the medical. And for parents: an apprentice is an employee. They get a wage, holiday, and employment rights. Apprenticeship pay has a minimum rate set by law, which rises after the first year or when the apprentice turns 19, whichever is later. Knowing that number before a conversation about money is useful.

What to know

On 15 October 2026 the government confirmed Great British Railways will be headquartered at Becketwell in Derby city centre, with construction starting in early 2027 and finishing by spring 2029, housing up to 450 staff. Alongside it, up to 600 apprentices aged 16 to 21 will enrol over four years on a new rail foundation apprenticeship, with the first starters based in Derby. The government says fewer than 7 per cent of the railway's workforce is under 25. The scheme sits within the Youth Guarantee and a £2.5 billion youth employment package aiming at up to 500,000 opportunities nationally. 600 places over four years is 150 a year. It is a meaningful opportunity for those who get one and a modest dent in the wider workforce problem. The practical steps are: set up alerts on the government apprenticeship service, look at Network Rail and train operator intakes directly rather than waiting, make sure maths and English grade 4 is in hand, and use the free National Careers Service. Sources: GOV.UK (Department for Transport), "Great British Railways takes shape as HQ and apprenticeship scheme confirmed", 15 October 2026, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/great-british-railways-takes-shape-as-hq-and-apprenticeship-scheme-confirmed; GOV.UK, find an apprenticeship, https://www.gov.uk/apply-apprenticeship; National Careers Service, https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/ This article is for general information and is not careers, legal or financial advice. For advice on a specific situation, contact the National Careers Service. If exam or job-hunting stress is affecting a young person's health, speak to your GP or pharmacist.

#apprenticeships#Great British Railways#youth employment#careers#skills#Derby

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