Brett discovered the Rail Engineering SWAP course at Leicester College through the Education, Training and Employment (ETE) service. He thought that the course sounded interesting so visited the College to find out more. 

“I thought, that sounds like a bit of me!” 

As he found out more about the course, Brett realised that the course sounded perfect for him.  

“I found that there’s a lot of room for self-development, and there’s different avenues it can take you down. I knew I enjoyed similar work and like being outdoors and meeting different people.  

“I’ve worked in offices before and I found that being in the same place, with the same people every day became quite mundane. So, different challenges, people and locations is something I really like. And I get to work with big trains and big machinery so, why not! That really pulled me in to this course.” 

Brett is currently working for an agency as a skilled trackman but has ambitions to progress much further in the railway industry. 

“There are endless opportunities.” 

“As I’m going through this journey, I’m learning about just how varied the different roles are, the different aspects of the field and the different routes you can go down. I’d be lying if I say today that I know exactly what I want to do but what I do know is that I enjoy the railway – I’d even go so far as to say I love it, I really do!  

“There are a lot of avenues that interest me and my current strategy is to learn everything there is to learn, pick up as many tips as I can, make myself as valuable as I can and then later on, I can make more of an educated decision about what kind of role I think suits me best. There are endless opportunities and I’m sure there will be something out there for me.” 

Brett is currently working for an agency that deals with manpower for the railway and also another company that work on the infrastructure of the railway. He works on ‘renewals’ which involves building panels or doing preparation work for a new section of track. He also works away on bigger jobs. 

“We remove old sections of track, take it right down to the foundation and rebuild it by relaying the sleepers, relaying the rails and pretty much making a brand new rail. I enjoy getting to see the process from start to finish which gives me the opportunity to learn a lot.” 

The Rail Engineering SWAP course provides students with the skills and experience they need to build a portfolio of evidence to prove their competence as an engineer. It’s comparable in academic levels to GCSEs. 

The course is 40% practical and 60% theory covering topics such as carrying out routine maintenance of tracks, inspections of track infrastructure, monitoring the performance of tracks, and implementing safe working systems. 

Building a portfolio to demonstrate employability 

But that’s not all. Brett also completed the Colleges transferable skills courses including alcohol and drugs awareness and conflict management which supplement his portfolio. 

As part of the course, Brett also completed the Personal Track Safety Course and gained his Skilled Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS) card – an important credential that proves to employers that you’re properly qualified and have the skills and knowledge to work in the construction industry. 

“I gained my Skilled CSCS card which will always come in handy and I’ve also done the personal track safety (PTS) course that everyone needs to do in order to get onto the track. It teaches you about the track layout, components, how they work, track hazards, risks, tools, types of jobs and it gave me a really good understanding of how it all works. The course has a very broad scope and I’m constantly learning.” 

“I’ve had the time of my life!” 

“To anyone considering the course, I would say, if you’re two minds about it it’s better to regret doing something than not doing it. I’ve had the time of my life! Rome wasn’t built in a day and the best way to think of the railway is like a massive oak tree – you have to make the initial climb up the trunk and then there’s lots of different branches you can take to make yourself stand out.  

“Find a company and get onto a van full time, then get into a core gang and then you’ll pretty much be in constant work. It can be a job or a career. For me, it’s a career and so I try to learn as much as I can, whenever I can.”