Government gives two railway academies the go-ahead
Thu 18 Mar 2010
As part of a wider announcement on how the government plans to improve the skills of Britain’s workforce, it has been announced that two
railway engineering academies are to open.
The two academies have been allotted around £8 million funding, with around £3 million coming from the Skills Funding Agency.
Lord Adonis welcomed the news, saying: “The creation of this new academy is very timely. Just last week I set out proposals for a new high speed rail network. Building and maintaining this network would not only create significant new opportunities for the UK’s design, engineering, construction and manufacturing sectors, it would require a new generation of skilled railwaymen and women.
“Over the next twenty to thirty years the UK will require a step-change in transport capacity and connectivity. We believe high speed rail is the way to achieve this step change and this Rail Academy will help provide the skills we would need to make it a reality.”
One academy will concentrate on general railway engineering skills and the other will concentrate on tunnelling, with the later receiving support from the Crossrail project.
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