A recruitment poster of Lord Kitchener calling for people to enlist in the British Army was one of the defining images of World War One.
Over 100 years later and who’d have thought you’d see a play on the iconic ‘Your Country Needs You’ poster, this time designed to attract ex-signallers and other operators and maintainers back into the railways?
That happened and the calls were answered with over 200 signallers in the Wales and Western region alone offering their services to help keep the railways running during the coronavirus crisis.
Mark Langman is Network Rail’s Managing Director in the Wales and Western Region. He has spoken to David McLoughlin, Chief Executive of railbusinessdaily.com.
The conversation starts by looking at the recruitment campaign and why it was necessary.
“Firstly, I want to acknowledge and thank our dedicated frontline operators across the country who have been delivering the railway with commitment and great flexibility,” said Mark.
“I really appreciate their hard work and understanding as we seek to build additional resilience during this unprecedented crisis the country is facing.
“Keeping people safe whilst running the railway has always been our priority, it’s why we are here. But we were faced with an unprecedented situation during the covid-19 crisis, a real national emergency. Knowing the country was relying on us to keep critical key workers and supplies moving at the same time as keeping people safe and limiting the spread of the virus was always going to be a tricky balancing act.
“As the virus doesn’t discriminate and none of us are invincible, we had and have the very real prospect of a shortage of our own key resources which means that we wouldn’t be able to fulfil our obligations to run even a limited service.”
Mark chairs the National Operations Council for Network Rail, so he was able to call upon key skilled and experienced operators from around the NR regions, Network Services, STE and Route Services to form a fast-paced task force. This is where the idea of creating a pool of skilled contingent workforce began to form.
“We worked incredibly hard on the concept, and pretty quickly launched the idea with the marketing slogan….’Signallers…..your railway needs you’, using the familiar Lord Kitchener picture,” said Mark.
So successful was the campaign that more than 200 signallers across Wales and the west responded to the calls to arms. Network Rail has transformed an old depot in Newport, south Wales, into a state-of-the-art training centre to train new recruits as well as those returning to signalling on the national railway.
Didcot Railway Centre and Swindon Panel Society have also made their facilities available to enable Network Rail to prepare for train service delivery in the event if a shortage of regular signallers.
“We have called upon our established communications channels and relationships with our trades unions representatives who have rightly helped shape how we are working,” said Mark.
“Their views and ideas have really mattered. All are very cognisant of the national emergency the country was facing, along with the important role the railway would play.”
The present situation has brought to the fore the way communications are taking place across Wales and Western (W&W), another challenge for Mark and his colleagues.
“Leadership is about being visible which is difficult with social distancing and complying with the rules during the lockdown,” said Mark.
“It means that we are using technology like video conferencing and conference calls much more to keep in touch with 1000s of home workers; and our frontline colleagues in depots. There are numerous events taking place throughout W&W but my regular calls to all 5500 colleagues are particularly well attended. With some trepidation I’m am planning the next one to be a live video conference.
“At every opportunity I talk about the importance of checking in with everyone for both physical and mental health reasons. Many people are missing the social contact that being at work brings, especially if they live alone, so additional contact and asking how people are is so important.
“In W&W we have been working hard for several years on raising the profile of mental health and we have trained over 200 mental health first aiders – they are playing a really important role during this crisis.
“I’m incredibly proud of what the team have achieved to date both nationally and within W&W and continue to be so.”
Mark ends the clarion call to all operators and maintainers by saying ‘stay safe, stay informed, be proud’……I like to think that we are all proud of how Mark and the rest of the railway industry has responded to the current crisis.
Mark Langman, Network Rail’s Managing Director in the Wales and Western Region, in conversation with David McLoughlin, Chief Executive of railbusinessdaily.com.
Photo credit: Network Rail
