An ambitious project to develop and refresh new standards for light rail engineering roles has received a positive response from professionals across the sector.

UKTram has now received feedback on a series of draft National Occupational Standards (NOS) for Rolling Stock and Infrastructure Technicians.

Engineering Manager Craig O’Brien explained: “In December last year the wider sector was invited to review 40 draft standards, and we received a healthy and positive level of response.

“Even though the documents are still in draft form, one tram operator is already using them to inform their own internal training.

“This is very encouraging for the light rail sector, which has had to previously rely on either no common standards, or ones developed by other similar industries such as those from Heavy Rail.”

The next stage of the project is to submit the standards for approval and Craig says that, based on the feedback already received, this looks increasingly likely.

“Once the NOS are finalised, they can be used to underpin important training such as that provided by apprenticeships. This will ensure that our sector has the right training to meet its future needs,” he added.

NOS can also be used during the recruitment process, for example, in job descriptions, as a benchmark against which companies can compare their internal practices and procedures; and as a basis for developing training programmes. UKTram will continue to publish updates on their development and publication.