Daisy Chapman-Chamberlain
I must have written a dozen articles on the topic of youth engagement, attracting young people to the rail sector, and what rail needs to do to retain young talent. I will start this piece with a few obvious facts.
First is that rail has a recruitment crisis. Second, rail has an image problem externally; often talked of as exclusively a ‘problematic’ sector. Third and finally, the rail sector is a secure, exciting career option, but there is a communication gap in promoting this.
The first question we must ask ourselves in rail is this: do young people (and indeed the broader population) know what the opportunities are in rail, beyond driver and conductor roles?
The ONS (2025) shows there are almost 1 million (987,000) young people not in education or employment, the highest figure in more than a decade. 46.4% of young people in the UK are uncertain about their career options – an increase from 24.6% in 2018 – placing the UK as one of the worst rated countries out of the 80 countries featured.
Aspirations
Career aspirations for young people are concentrated around a small number of ‘traditional’ or well-known jobs, with 50% of young people reporting that they are focused on just 10 jobs – including actor, doctor, and lawyer. Worryingly, very large numbers of young people reported focusing on jobs with very slim chances of success such as social media influencer and sports star. This paints a picture of a generation of young people who have not been given adequate knowledge about the vast range of career options available, as well as a lack of information about what these careers entail in terms of wages, security, and success factors.
There are some excellent youth engagement programmes in rail, including NSAR’s Routes into Rail to Community Rail, which work with thousands of schools a year. However, 2025 research conducted by Ravensbourne University London found that less than a fifth (16%) of 3,000 young people surveyed used a careers service for careers advice. Family members (24%) and social media platforms, such as YouTube and TikTok (21%), were found to be the leading sources of career inspiration for young people.
When we consider that family members are the leading source of career advice, it paints a divided picture: those whose family members have had rail employment experience (and, we hope, recommend it), and those who absorb the largely negative mainstream press surrounding the railways, and therefore may not consider it as a positive career path for the young people they know.
More positive mainstream press for rail must be a key priority linked to the broader careers agenda. If rail is perceived more positively in a general sense, it will also be seen as a more likely employment option by the family members advising younger people. Engaging young people within the sources of digital information they use is also vital – from social media campaigns to collaborations with influencers – rail needs to meet the next generation on their own turf.
Promotion
But when promoting the sector, what should we be saying to ensure we are an engaging and attractive sector? The State of the Nation report, published in December 2025 by the National Youth Strategy’s Youth Advisory Group, found that out of 27 European countries, the UK comes last in how happy 15-year-olds are with their life, and nearly half of young people spend the majority of their spare time in their bedroom. We can then look to the 2025 BBC Bitesize Careers Survey, involving 4,001 teenagers aged 13-16, which found that their most important career priorities were ‘feeling good about what you do’ (which 28% said was the most important factor) and ‘happiness’ (26%).
Young people report feeling unhappy, and therefore naturally believe that positive feelings and happiness are their priority for their future careers. Positioning rail as an industry which can provide this is therefore crucial – we often talk about the ‘railway family’ with lifelong careers, job security and good wages.
According to the Next Generation UK report (2024), financial security is viewed as the most crucial factor for personal happiness and wellbeing but remains one of the most elusive challenges young people face. Promoting rail as a career which is not only supportive and collaborative, but also offers financial security, should be a clear priority within recruitment moving forward.
Priorities
When we consider that young people want to feel good about what they do, we must first know their key priorities in this regard. The British Science Association has collated and analysed a broad range of youth perspectives, providing valuable insights into young people’s views. Climate change emerges as a primary concern for young people, with a significant majority (71%) believing it will impact their lives in the future. Rail, of course, is a vital industry in the push to achieve net zero by 2050, but do young people know this?
According to the State of the Nation report, almost half of young people in England feel that their voice does not matter in decisions across the country, and one third of young people feel like they don’t know how to influence decisions taken in their local area. Rail is an industry which significantly impacts communities; supporting regional growth and job creation, ensuring access to life opportunities and leisure, boosting tourism, and reducing emissions. We can see that young people want careers where they feel they can make a difference and positively impact local and regional communities, and rail is an ideal home for these ambitions.
Those of us who work in the industry know that the benefits of a career in rail align naturally with the ambitions and needs of young people. The path forward is therefore clear: use the channels that young people do to ensure that rail is promoted as a career offering meaning, satisfaction, and security. This also involves structuring engagement in a way which will be well-received and understood by younger generations – for example, short form videos are extremely popular. Just visit Amtrak’s Instagram to learn what youth engagement looks like in 2026!
Targeted interventions, as outlined in this article, added to the valuable youth engagement work which already takes place across the sector, will help to ensure that rail is seen as an exciting, desirable career destination for young people.
Daisy Chapman-Chamberlain is rail services lead at Rail North Partnership. She focusses on improving transport systems, accessibility, safety and beyond. She is also the chairperson of the Oxfordshire Community Rail Partnership. Daisy can be reached via LinkedIn.
Image credit: Network Rail
