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“Young Rail Tours is a new voluntary cross-industry initiative, which seeks to deliver Affordable, Accessible and Inspirational Domestic, European and Intercontinental railway tours and learning experience to the benefit of young professionals working in the UK railway industry. The initiative has been launched by Paul Case (Former National Chair, Young Rail Professionals), Ben Vallely (Former Chair, Institution of Mechanical Engineers Railway Division Young Members (IMechE RYDM)) Emil Tschepp (Current Chair, IMechE RYDM), Martin Halligan (Chair, Institution of Engineering and Technology Railway Division Young Members) and Keith Upton (Chair, Institution of Railway Signal Engineers Young Members). The programme is supported by those four institutions, YRP, IMechE, IRSE and IET.
The concept started to take form in 2017 when Paul, as chair of YRP, joined with Ben Vallely and Emil Tschepp, to organise joint study tours for their members. This led to Paul, Ben and Emil organising a two-day tour in the Netherlands in April 2018, where 38 young professionals visited sites including; Utrecht Central Station, the Netherlands ‘Operationeel Control Centum Rail’ (OCCR), and the NR Watergraafsmeer maintenance facility.
The trip also included a joint networking event with Dutch colleagues. Creating opportunities for UK railway professionals and international colleagues to network, share ideas and build friendships is one of the key missions of YRT.
Whilst the Netherlands was only the first tour the group had organised together, it met with positive responses from delegates with 88% saying that they would like to attend future tours and 94% feeling it delivered value for money. Comments included: ‘I enjoyed it a lot, there were many presentations, and these were very informative’; ‘Good variation in presentations, technical and non-technical. Some great quality speakers clearly experts in their field’ and one delegate stating that, ‘Everything was perfect!’.
Following this success in the Netherlands, a more ambitious tour was planned for April 2019 to Munich. The tour was initially planned for 40 delegates, but Paul and his co-organisers were overwhelmed when over 70 young professionals requested a place. Eventually 46 attended this tour, which included: a tour of the Stammstrecke 2-line construction; a walking tour of Munich; a private tour of the Munich Transport Corporation (MVG) museum; a visit to Siemen’s Munich Rail Service Centre, and a tour of the DB Netz Bavarian Regional Rail Control Centre.
The tour also included an evening of networking at the historic Paulaner BrauHaus alongside a number of German engineering colleagues.
Again, the tour was met with overwhelmingly positive reviews, with 100% of delegates saying the tour delivered value for money and 97% stating that they would attend future tours. One delegate said, ‘the tour was fantastic! I have found the experience very valuable, making new connections and friends in the industry, and feeling welcomed into the YRP and IMechE community’.
Recognising a demand and need in the industry to provide development tours targeted towards the needs of young professionals, Paul and colleagues from the IMechE set out to develop a cross-industry initiative to deliver up to two tours a year for young professionals in Rail. In just four months, they established Young Rail Tours (YRT), a programme supported by the IMechE, IRSE, IET and YRP, to deliver these tours for young professionals.
The founders recognised that several organisations have been organising similar tours historically; often in silo’s, with restricted access and often at prices that are unaffordable for professionals early in their careers. YRT was founded to be as accessible a possible, relevant to the needs of young professionals, affordable and, most importantly, inspirational – provide young professionals with learning, development and networking opportunities that they could carry forward with them throughout their careers in rail.
In just four months, the group have already secured funding, established marketing and communication channels, developed a website and started establishing relationships nationally and internationally to deliver the programme.
YRT delivered its first successful domestic tour, taking 22 delegates to Scotland in September 2019, including: a presentation from Bill Reeve, Director of Rail, Transport Scotland; a tour of the Glasgow Subway Depot; a presentation from David Shirres, Managing Editor Rail Engineer magazine; and a trip on the Bo’ness and Kinneil Railway. David Shirres, a host on the tour noted that ‘It was an absolute pleasure to join the group this weekend’, while Bill Reeve said, ‘it was a real pleasure to welcome you all to Scotland. I was impressed by the number of delegates you brought – and the breadth of disciplines represented’.
Feedback from the tour has, again, been overwhelmingly positive. Delegates scored the tour 9/10 on average for organisation, communication, logistics and content; with 100% of attendees saying that that tour represented value for money and that they would attend tours in the future. Some of the comments from the tour were;
One delegate, Bonnie Price (Assistant Project Manager) who has attended two tours, had this to say of the YRT programme;
‘Young Rail Tours has given me a wonderful opportunity to meet other young people in a somewhat silo’d industry. I have expanded my network hugely from attending two tours (Munich and Scotland). Not only did I have a fantastic time being exposed to knowledge I wouldn’t have gained in my job and sub-sector of rail, but I got to meet and network with people that have already proved good to know in my career.
Paul (Case) and his co-founders have created an incredible organisation and I already can’t wait to attend more tours. Learning and expanding my network and my knowledge has opened-up my future career path, which I wouldn’t have known about or considered if I had not attended YRTs tours.
I cannot over-sell how worthwhile these tours are to my development as a young professional.’
YRT are also working on delivering a tour to Japan for 11 nights in March 2020. The organisers have developed links already with Japan Rail East, Japan Rail Central, Hitachi, The Railway Technical Research Institute (RTRI) and Toshiba to facilitate tours during the visit, which is already confirmed to include;
• A tour of the JR Central Control Centre
• A tour of the JR Central SCMAGLEV and Railway Park
• A tour of JR East Operational Facilities including Crew Depots and Crew Accommodation.
• A Presentation and Tour at the RTRI Kuntachi Office
• Tours of Hitachi’s Kasado and Mito Plants
• A visit to the Toshiba Factory in Fuchu
• A visit to Hiroshima Peace Park
• A trip to Kinosaki Onsen for a cultural stay in a traditional Japanese Ryokan.
• A Nomikai (traditional Japanese business dinner & networking) with colleagues from JR East.
The tour will include 25 places, 10 of which have been allocated and, recognising the potential for significant interest in the tour, 15 selected via a lottery process. Interest from the industry was huge, with over 160 young professionals requesting places in the lottery.
Japan will be the first ‘large tour’ in a programme of tours planned over the next five years to destinations including Italy, Russia, Canada and China (among others). Within its current strategy, YRT anticipates delivering 10 tours with a total of between 300 and 400 delegates taking part over the next five years. Several the tours will also feature ‘lessons learnt’ events in which tour delegate will present and feedback their experiences to wider industry colleagues.
As well as organising tours for UK professionals, YRT has also been established to act as a point of contact for groups from other countries wishing to arrange visits to the UK Railway Network. Only two months after being formally established, YRT was approached by CRRC Corporation in China via the International Business School Suzhou, the largest English-speaking University in China (affiliated to the University of Liverpool) and International Study Programs (ISP) based out of Prague to help arrange a month-long tour for 40 professionals visiting from China.
YRT worked closely with ISP and the International Business School, as well as colleagues and supporters across the UK, to develop and lead a huge array of tours, presentations and working events in towns and cities including; London, Derby, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow and Edinburgh. Some of the tours included were:
• Presentation and tours of LUL’s Acton Depot, London Transport Museum Acton Depot and 55 Broadway.
• Presentations on Crossrail 2 hosted by Denton’s LLP.
• Tours of the new Crossrail Paddington Station and Old Oak Common Depot
• Tour of the Heathrow Express Depot
• Half day presentation on ‘Railways of the North’ including talks from; Mr. Zheng Xiyuan – Consul general of China; Tim Wood, Director Northern Powerhouse Rail; Anna-Jane Hunter – Director, North of England Rail and Adam Richmond, Project Director Project, CPC Project Services)
• Presentation, Transport for Scotland
• Tour of Glasgow Central Station
• Tour of Glasgow Subway
• Presentation and Tour of Edinburgh Haymarket Depot.
YRT’s contribution to the tour led Nikola Jarolimova, programme lead for ISP to say of Paul Case (YRT Founder)
Paul freely gave his time, dedication, expertise and resources to help us deliver an incredibly successful tour of the UK Rail industry for CRRC Corporation; arranging events, speakers and networking evenings across the UK. His passion for bringing rail colleagues together and sharing knowledge and expertise is infectious and we are looking forward to working more with him in the future.
Through networking events alone, over 200 UK professionals had the opportunity to meet and networking with colleagues from CRRC. The tour was so well received, that CRRC and the International Business School have already offered to host YRT on a tour within China and donated to YRT to facilitate future tours and activities. YRT are now engaging with CRRC and ISP to develop an on going relationship to facilitate tours to the UK and China.
While still early in its inception, YRT, has already begun to establish itself as a new, powerful force for developing the careers of young professionals, providing unique and inspiration learning opportunities and building global networks and links across worldwide railway industries and professionals.“
“A new company set up from the Leaders of the Young Members' Divisions of the IET, the IMechE and the IRSE, as well as a former leader of Young Rail Professionals, to provide young people and new starters to the industry, affordable, insightful, inspiring and entertaining technical tours. This is based on the success of two previous tours led by YRP and IMechE to Utrecht/Amsterdam in 2018 and Munich in 2019. YRT has just returned from its first domestic tour as YRT, to Scotland. The event was incredibly enjoyable, re-ignited my interest in the rail industry, and the group of 25 delegates who attended were diverse in age, job role, experience and background. It was a phenomenal experience and was superb for networking. I am very much looking forward to the 2020 trip to Japan. Definitely the best thing I have taken part in since joining the rail industry is their trips.“
“This nomination is to recognise the ground-breaking work that the team behind "Young Rail Tours (YRT)" are undertaking to improve the quality and accessibility of Learning and Development for young rail professionals.
The work is ground-breaking for several reasons:
- In our industry, opportunities for L&D outside of work are dominated by the academic institutions. Whilst usually free, the events managed by these organisations are inaccessible in format, and often lacking in inspiration. YRT provide a different format - learning through social interactions and immersive experiences and diverse tutelage. For this reason, YRT events are oversubscribed and the organisation is growing rapidly.
- Most railway organisations capable of supporting international tours have a rich history extending back tens or even hundreds of years. YRT has been built from scratch by its young entrepreneurial team in under12 months. With the financial backing of Young Rail Professionals Ltd, YRT has created a capable and flexible L&D platform for young people in rail for generations to come
- Finally, YRT is run for, and by, young rail professionals. This is no corporate responsibility exercise dreamt up by a marketing team. These men and women volunteer to run the company for the love and care they have for the learning and development of their peers- and it shows in the quality of the opportunities they create, and the leadership they show in its delivery.“
“What Young Rail Tours have managed to achieve in such a short space of time is nothing short of outstanding. Since its inception in May 2019, this new organisation has already developed an ambitious tour programme that was successfully launched with its first domestic tour to Scotland in September 2019. Its plans for future tours are already prompting excitement and high demand amongst young professionals in the industry, and the co-founders have responded to this by initiating preliminary plans to expand the tour programme with the aim of giving as many people as possible the opportunity to take part.
The tours offer a perfect balance of technical content and cultural experiences with the primary focus being to build networks of young professionals across the UK rail industry and beyond. The organisers of each tour (of which the majority are volunteers) are passionate, enthusiastic and always learning how to improve their offerings by encouraging delegate participation and feedback.
Personally, I found both tours to Munich and Scotland in 2019 hugely enjoyable and beneficial to me as a developing engineer in the rail industry. As well as being able to learn about different areas of the industry in both the UK and abroad, I have developed new personal and professional relationships with peers and colleagues that will serve me well in future.“
“I have recieved my new television and blue ray dvd player and its superb. Can you thank the sponsors Stobart Rail for me and also thanks again on behalf of my Mrs and me for a wonderful night at the RailStaff Awards, I feel quite humbled by all this, so once again a big thank you.”
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