Advance warning

This Christmas whilst sat around the table with your family spare a thought for the Signalling Testers who will be working hard to ensure that plans to update the British railways are delivered on time, reports Victoria Turner of advance-TRS.

Unfortunately every year, during the Christmas period, the rail industry faces a challenge mustering enough Signal Testers prepared to work the holidays. According to Andy Ridout, Managing Director of the specialist railway recruitment company advance-TRS, this year is no exception.

With train operating companies eager to limit the disruption caused to travellers during peak times it is essential that scheduled commissionings are completed promptly over the festive season.

Says Andy Ridout, ‘Failure to deliver major commissioning work within the designated time frame could cause major interference to services. As a result smaller projects could be cancelled and staff transferred to priority areas. For some the Christmas bonus incentive is not enough to justify missing out on family festivities.’

According to advance-TRS one solution could be to consider using Functional Testers who are under mentorship for their IRSE licence. This would provide work experience and log book building whilst taking them one step closer to qualification and perhaps eradicating future staff shortages.

Another option is to outsource. James Sneller, signalling specialist at advance-TRS believes that international workers could be the way forward. Says James, ‘Many foreign testers who already have UK experience and track certificates would find the offered rates highly appealing. All it would need is an agreement with Network Rail to approve a Certificate of Competence (CoC) prior to the work period.’

Advance-TRS is an international recruitment company, specialising in sourcing highly skilled, scarce railway candidates. For more information or to discuss your requirements with our team of industry experts call 01483 361 061.