The RailStaff Awards 2024

Nominations for Apprentice of the Year

David Collins

Said the following about Neil Roe:

“Neil is a third year technician apprentice at Newton Heath Train maintenance depot, Manchester.

I have found Neil to be a credit to the depot/company, he is extremely conscientious in his work, producing first class results every time. Whichever department Neil has been assigned too, the feedback has been excellent - always above and beyond effort!

Recently Neil completed a project on depot to reset and re-programme our automated underfloor train cleaning machine. We gave him the scope of the project and left him to it!

Over the period of a couple of months Neil has prepared all the dimensions for the required programmes, and implemented them into the machine, proving each programme through trials. With the completed programmes in place, he has concluded the project by producing standard operating procedures for the process and guidance to all staff.

It is very rare for an individual at such a young age to pick up and complete a project of this nature with minimum guidance/support. A depot environment can be a challenging arena, Neil overcame any peer pressure to complete his project. The project outcome was a standard/safe cleaning process with @30% reduction in process time.“