Young people are encouraged to make tracks down to Holbeck to start their career on the railway.
Opportunities are available right now to join a training scheme learning track maintenance skills. Training company Realskills are looking for young people aged 16-18 who are interested in a chance to gain skills and experience in an outdoor role. No formal qualifications are required and necessary functional skills will be taught on site.
Cllr Kim Groves, Cllr Angela Gabriel and Carl Hinchliffe tour the site and meet trainees.
The historic Holbeck loco depot on Bridge Road is now home RTS Infrastructure who work on all sorts of trains, from cleaning local commuter trains to maintaining the latest state-of-the-art track maintenance vehicles.
Operations Director Chris Reid said: “We get all sorts of rolling stock coming into the depot and to see the latest vehicles is a real inspiration for the young people.”
RTS Infrastructure have teamed up with Realskills to offer training in a real life work environment. Trainees undertake a six week course at the end of which they choose to move onto the apprenticeship programme.
The trainees we met were very enthusiastic saying they all intended to finish the training and get work on the railway. Once qualified they can expect to earn £10-14 per hour as track men.
For more information contact Nichola Shenton on 07904 565288 or email: nichola.shenton@real-skills.co.uk.
