Tube Lines seeks to build new generation of engineers

Tube Lines is actively promoting engineering as a career by working with young Londoners living along its three Underground lines. 30 Tube Lines engineers have trained as science and engineering ambassadors and are now volunteering their time to help support schools in delivering engineering-based activities. They aim to make young people aware of what engineering is and the variety of career options available.

The first Tube Lines employee to visit a school was Rosamund Hodgson, a geotechnical engineer who visited Preston Manor High School in Wembley. Rosamund supported an event involving around 120 students in year 8 (12-13 year olds) aimed at challenging gender stereotypes associated with careers and increasing awareness about the huge range of work opportunities available to all.

Rosamund Hodgson said:

“The kids I worked with said their eyes were really opened to new directions so I think the event was a great success. I’d love to persuade someone who’s never considered a career in engineering to do so.”

Since Rosamund’s visit, another Tube Lines science and engineering ambassador has met with 20 young people aged between 10 and 17 from the Mill Hill & Edgware Cadets club, managed by St John's Ambulance. John Joyce, a senior signalling engineer, gave a presentation on life as an engineer. Further school and youth group visits by Tube Lines employees are scheduled.

Tube Lines is also enabling teachers to highlight the wide variety of engineering opportunities to their students. At the end of term 14 science and engineering teachers visited the Jubilee line depot in Stratford and Tube Lines’ £10m Skills Training Centre. By giving teachers practical examples of engineering and more information about career paths within the industry, the company hopes more young people will consider careers in the sector.

Gurmeet Singh Narula, lecturer in electronics at Southwark College, who visited the depot, said:

“We got a great picture of some of the things people can expect from a career in engineering. Getting exposure like this helps us open the eyes of our students to ideas and options they’d never considered. It’s invigorating when you see you’re making a difference to someone’s future.”

Tube Lines is partnering with the London Engineering Project and STEMNET to help organise its activities with young people. The teacher visit was also supported by the Royal Academy of Engineering.

Terry Morgan, Tube Lines’ Chief Executive said:

“Too many young people are missing out on exciting career opportunities, either because they don’t know what’s available to them or because they have misconceptions about what engineering’s like. The work we do is challenging and impacts millions of people’s everyday lives.”

Tube Lines’ work with young people comes shortly after research by the University of Buckingham found that half of the schools in inner London do not have specialist physics teachers. Given the links between physics and engineering, this poses further challenges in encouraging young people into relevant careers.

ENDS

For further information, please contact:
Press office, Tube Lines: 020 7088 4848 / 07843 551 589

Notes to Editors

1. Tube Lines is responsible for the maintenance and upgrade of the infrastructure on the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines. London Underground is responsible for operating the Underground, for employing drivers and station staff, for ticketing and fares, and for the Tube’s safety regime.
2. The Tube Lines consortium consists of two shareholders – Amey and Bechtel. They bring together some of the most experienced providers of business services with specialist skills in the rail industry, including track and signal renewals, plus project and operational management. They are providing some of the best project and operational managers from around the world to work on the modernisation of the Tube system. Amey owns two-thirds of Tube Lines’ business and Bechtel one third.

3. The University of Buckingham’s fourth report on physics in schools, Supply and Retention of Teachers, was published on 30 June 2008 and can be seen at http://www.buckingham.ac.uk/news/newsarchive2008/physics-4.html. BBC coverage of the report is at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7478302.stm.

4. For more information about the London Engineering Project visit http://www.thelep.org.uk/lep/default.htm.

5. For more information about STEMNET visit http://www.stemnet.org.uk/.

 

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