Alex Leslie

Said the following about Mike Mitchell:

“Mike Mitchell’s commitment to sharing knowledge for the benefit of colleagues and customers is second to none. He is incredibly passionate about helping telecoms engineers, both new to the team or long-standing members, get the knowledge and skills they need to carry out their roles to the best of their abilities in today’s railway.

Mike’s been on the railway since 1990. He joined as a trainee signalling technician and since then, he’s spent the best part of 30 years maintaining complex voice, data and radio networks, amassing a huge amount of knowledge along the way.

In May 2018, Network Rail’s telecoms practical training room in York was officially opened. This facility has been Mike’s vision and a real labour of love, he designed it and installed most if not all the equipment in it. It is a true representation of his significant knowledge, and his desire to impart it to others. The facility includes a museum of historical telecoms equipment and documents, many of which Mike has collected and donated for education purposes. On the other side of the coin, it also has the very latest technologies found in our telecoms networks which he uses to deliver excellent hands-on voice, transmission and data training to our field- and office-based colleagues.

Since the opening, Mike has run countless training course for telecoms colleagues from across Network Rail. He’s also taken the training and equipment out to those colleagues unable to get to the facility. I only ever hear glowing reports from attendees saying things like: “many thanks for...and your ongoing excellent work delivering these...training courses for us” and “great workshop delivered with enthusiasm and passion” as well as “thanks again for coming up and letting us play with the kit until destruction!”

Mike has also written take-away training guides to accompany his courses so that colleagues have his support and the benefit of his knowledge, even when he’s not there.

And Mike does all this whilst continuing to work his shifts, installing and migrating systems as well as solving telecoms faults both large and small. I think his love for problem solving under pressure is on a par with his passion for the personal development of others. (Mike also gives a significant amount of personal time and effort to teach vulnerable young people new skills, helping them to find employment. He also supports activities aimed at keeping senior citizens involved in community activities, helping them avoid isolation.)

In short, Mike is a real inspiration whose every action is selfless and for the progression and benefit of others. It is an absolute privilege to work alongside him.“