East Midlands Railway has launched a recruitment initiative in the search for new apprentice train drivers.
They hope to hear from people with a wide range of ages and backgrounds as part of its recruitment window, which closes on 28 November.
EMR said it was particularly keen to encourage women, younger people and ethnic minority groups to apply for the roles, which are based at Nottingham and Derby.
The scheme is open to people aged 21 and above and involves a 12-month programme that blends theory and practical work in the classroom with practical skills development. The training will include cab rides and signal box visits.
Successful applicants will have access to world class facilities at EMR’s training academy where classroom learning is underpinned by state-of-the-art Virtual Reality (VR) and cab simulator that replicates real life railway situations.
Head of drivers for EMR, Paul Griffin, started working on the railway in 1995. He said: “The role of a train driver is unique and challenging, but it is rewarding.
“I have worked in many roles within the driver function, from a driver on central trains to a driver mentor and depot manager. I have been in my current role as head of drivers since August 2019.”
Kate Holden, HR director for EMR said: “At EMR, we currently employ just over 600 drivers and to fulfil our fleet rollout, we need drivers to operate the trains across the network.
“One of our major challenges is encouraging a more diverse driving workforce. We’ve been working to increase the number of females applying for our driver roles, with open evenings aimed specifically at women, as well as tackling the unconscious bias through blind screening.
“We encourage applications from candidates of all backgrounds and ages and we’d urge anybody interested in a career in any of these driver roles to check out our website.”
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