In early January, recruitment firm Carrington West released its 2026 Rail Salary Survey & Guide, giving a snapshot of rail workers’ potential earnings and providing an overview of the current recruitment market.
The guide offers vital benchmarking data to support workforce planning across the rail sector, drawing on Carrington West’s engagement with clients and candidates throughout 2025. It covers both public and private sector employers and includes contractor rate trends, permanent salary ranges, and regional variances.
Here, RailStaff gives you a breakdown of the report’s key findings and Carrington West’s outlook for recruitment and compensation over the next 12 months.
Design, consultancy & engineering
Delayed projects and a lack of uncertainty saw the design, consultancy & engineering segment suppressed in 2025. With HS2 systems and civils packages paused, CP7 design works continued to be patchy, and were largely limited to structural and civils maintenance.
Major consultancies continued to benefit from their role in key frameworks but many SMEs remained in a state of flux due to unsigned contracts and unclear delivery volumes. Salary growth in design and consultancy was therefore modest, with small improvements reported rather than significant raises.
Overall, recruitment levels remained stable, though hiring has been hindered by the gap between salary expectations and employer budgets. However, the report highlights that a growing number of professionals are leaving the industry in search of more secure sectors offering more competitive salaries, bonuses, benefits, and progression.
There is ongoing competition between consultancies and main contractors to attract staff, with many consultancies relying heavily on work-life balance and development, rather than the higher salaries that contractors can offer.
Candidates are becoming more aware of this disparity, contributing to higher salary expectations, more counteroffers, and a growing tendency for commercially focused professionals to consider main contractor roles or exit the rail industry.
Carrington West reports that salaries across design, engineering & consultancy have begun to edge up as 2026 has progressed, with increases most noticeable at mid–senior levels, where competition for experienced designers, commercial staff, and project leaders is tightening. Contract rates have also risen slightly.
With the talent pool shrinking, consultancies are likely to face strong competition for experienced design engineers, which Carrington West anticipates will drive an increase in salary expectations. While some companies will be able to absorb these higher rates, others will remain short-staffed or be forced to compromise on experience.
Carrington West expects a firmly candidate-led market once activity ramps back up, with salaries becoming a crucial factor. Early engagement and flexible working arrangements will also be fundamental to attracting talent back into rail.
Project delivery
In 2025, project delivery roles in rail saw little in the way of growth, with most hiring focused on commercial and pre-construction positions such as bid managers and estimators. With major CP7 frameworks only partly mobilised, much of the industry was left operating below capacity. In addition, redundancies and staff transitions from programmes like HS2 and the TransPennine Route Upgrade increased the number of available candidates, many with pay expectations that were difficult to meet within tighter budgets.
A clear skills gap has appeared at mid-career level, says the report, leaving too few professionals between junior and senior roles. In regional markets, subcontractors also struggled to match main contractor pay, making site-level recruitment more difficult.
Looking ahead, Carrington West predicts that delivery activity will ramp up from late 2026 as stalled projects begin to move toward their construction phases. This will increase demand for site-based staff, particularly supervisors, delivery managers, and rail-accredited engineers. The shortage of mid-level candidates will remain a concern, so employers should consider investing in training and upskilling to close the gap. Additionally, as more professionals prioritise stability and work-life balance, site-based delivery teams may need to offer greater flexibility to attract talent.
Rail systems
Slow progress and subdued activity – due to the slow roll-out of CP7 schemes and the 12-month deferral of HS2 systems work – defined the rail systems market in 2025, says Carrington West.
Though some CP7 programmes moved into the design phase, an uptick in construction work did not follow as expected. Contractors were cautious when hiring, generally selecting permanent staff for long-term planning and relying on freelancers where short-term demand required it. Constrained by project staffing budgets, companies kept salaries and day rates level.
The talent pool continued to change as experienced professionals moved into the energy sector, attracted by better pay, flexibility, and longer-term work. As a result, rail systems employers saw growing demand for hybrid and part-time roles from senior candidates looking to improve their work-life balance.
Carrington West expects a turning point to be reached in April 2026, when HS2 systems packages are scheduled to re-enter the pre-construction phase, while only limited systems work around existing HS2 civils is expected to require construction staff.
With talent having been driven out of the sector by the recent slowdown, the market faces a serious skills shortage, and, as activity picks up later in 2026, this will likely increase salaries and contractor rates into 2027. Employers must therefore act early to secure specialist staff before they’re snapped up by the competition.
Key takeaways
The 2026 Rail Salary Survey & Guide highlights that the industry is currently navigating a complex delivery environment marked by deferred projects and structural reform, and Carrington West describes a market that is active but is increasingly difficult to predict. In summary, the key findings of the report are that:
- Project delays have led to a diminished workforce as professionals have left the sector.
- Salary levels will likely increase as talent demand increases throughout 2026 and into 2027.
- Candidate appetite for flexible working arrangements continues, even for predominantly site-based roles.
“The rail sector continues to offer exceptional long-term career opportunities,” says Oliver Gooch, department manager, rail at Carrington West, “but employers are facing real challenges in securing the skills they need.”
“Our 2026 salary survey shows that market conditions remain highly competitive. The most successful organisations will be those that act quickly to engage top talent, offer meaningful flexibility, and invest in developing their internal capability.”
To read the full report visit: www.carringtonwest.com/salary-surveys
Image credit: iStockphoto.com/gremlin
