Throughout September, nine apprentices from leading engineering consultancy, Amey, and Great Western Railway will be switching places as part of a rare cross-organisational skills exchange.
For Amey apprentices this is a chance to work on the front line operation of the railway; delivering over 1,500 rail services a day, through 280 stations, catering for 1.5 million passenger journeys every week
GWR apprentices will get the opportunity to find out what goes on behind the scenes, working on the £7.5 billion Great Western modernisation project which will deliver faster, greener, quieter and more reliable journeys from London to Oxford, Swansea, Bristol and Newbury as well as support continued economic growth across the region. The apprentices will be working on heavy overhauls on high speed trains, plant and hydraulics. The apprentices will also experience Amey’s award winning piling stream that has halved cycle times, generated huge cost savings and built LEAN capabilities within the team.
Ian Deninson, Amey’s Group HR and Communications Director said:
“We have a responsibility to the industries we work in to invest in skills for the future by boosting technical skills through comprehensive training. This apprenticeship exchange is all about demonstrating our commitment to developing people.
Our partnership with GWR is a rare example of how different organisations can work together to provide diverse, dynamic learning opportunities that will contribute towards our apprentices’ NVQ Level 3 qualifications, give them the skills and expertise to grow their career, all-the-while developing key life skills.”
Steve Jones Regional Apprentice Manager for GWR said:
” Both companies have invested in this scheme together with training programmes to develop their skills in engineering, There, is a hundred percent commitment from GWR and Amey to educate and develop the training needs and life skills of all our apprentices. The scheme is underway and initial reports with feedback suggest it is successful and hugely popular with the apprentices taking part. It is a unique scheme at the moment, but we are looking to extend and explore the scheme even further in the future.”