Train-maker Alstom has officially opened a new national training academy at its Derby site, which will help produce future generations of rail engineers.
During a ceremony at its UK train manufacturing site in Litchurch Lane, Derby South MP Dame Margaret Beckett opened the firm’s Apprentice Training Academy, accompanied by Nick Crossfield, Alstom’s Managing Director for the UK and Ireland.
The academy, which will welcome 120 new apprentices and graduates this year, has been created following an investment of £250,000 over the last two years.
The opening coincided with National Apprenticeship Week, which took place last week.
Mr Crossfield said: “National Apprenticeship Week was the perfect time for us to open our academy as we wanted to express our confidence in the future of the UK apprenticeships and the UK rail industry.”
Dame Margaret said: “I’m delighted to see Alstom continuing to invest in Derby’s young people, and in the Litchurch Lane facility, the only factory in Britain with the capability to design, build and test new trains for the UK and for export.”
Alstom’s Derby site has been at the heart of UK railway manufacturing for 175 years since it was originally established, with generations of train-makers trained on site to manufacture the most technological advanced trains for Britain’s rail passengers.
The new Training Academy, featuring 17 permanent teaching staff, offers 1,600 sq m of learning space, comprising four classrooms, a canteen, coffee area, and break out study areas where new trainees are inducted.
It also features a training hall, containing a carriage and cab from the AVENTRA programme – the UK’s largest train manufacturing programme in a generation currently on the lines at Derby – where apprentices can gain practical experience working on carriages before joining a live manufacturing team.
All levels of apprentices and graduates will now enter their new traineeship with Alstom through the Training Academy, no matter which of the 30 Alstom locations around the UK they will eventually work at.
This year’s intake of 120 apprentices and graduates will be the first to formally benefit from the academy scheme.
All courses are structured to complement each apprentice’s college or university course, which they will also attend throughout their apprenticeship.
Alstom has said it will be working closely with local universities and colleges, including Derby College Group and the University of Derby.
Mr Crossfield said: “Alstom has always believed in developing talent through formalised training, as we see apprentices are the future of our industry both here in Britain and around the world.”
