Bishop Line Community Rail Partnership has brought together many of its rail industry stakeholders to host the 2026 Rail Safety and Careers.
Over 120 students from secondary schools along the Bishop Line attended the event at Locomotion on the 3rd & 4th February.
Students joined the event from St Aiden’s Church of England Academy in Darlington, Greenfield & Woodham Academies in Newton Aycliffe and St John’s School and Sixth Form in Bishop Auckland. They attended four workshops which would prepare them for safe independent travel, navigating the next step in their education journey and introduce a potential career in rail. Led by rail industry professionals they engaged in interactive sessions covering rail safety with virtual reality headsets, understanding their personality types and roles to suit, potential rail careers, looking after their mental well-being and understanding the impact of anti-social behaviour.
Each student was able to speak with industry professionals about what their role involves and their individual career path, from apprenticeships, to degrees, to on-the-job training, giving real life examples which they could relate to. They had the opportunity to speak to a range of roles such as Drivers, Travel Safe Officers and British Transport Police Officers, as well as those behind the scenes in roles like Engineering, Planning, Policy, Safety, Strategy, Stakeholder Management, Sustainability and Train Performance.
They also met representatives from local colleges who explained the relevant courses to access roles in the rail industry.
Felicity Machnicki, Bishop Line Community Rail Partnership Officer said,
“It was wonderful to host another fantastic Rail Safety and Careers at Locomotion. Last year’s event has been shortlisted for a national Community Rail Award and we’re proud to say that this event was even better than in 2025. The museum was buzzing throughout the 2 days with students moving between the activities. It was great to see the students experience the impact of trespassing through Network Rail’s Virtual Reality (VR) headsets to see what it could look like to be on a railway while a train is coming. Our Rail Education Officer regularly visits schools along the Bishop Line to deliver rail safety sessions, and this session embeds an even greater understanding of the risks of trespass and the consequences of making certain decisions. The VR experience will certainly have put off anyone even thinking of taking risks on the railway”
She added,
“The students were really engaged in their conversations with our colleagues from across the rail industry. Feedback from colleagues was great. They were delighted to talk to students about potential future fuel types for rail, the huge diversity of roles in rail and local opportunities, which they know are so important for so many young people. The Bishop Line Community Rail Partnership is so proud of our relationships with our industry partners and we couldn’t run an event like this without their support, both in planning the event and delivery on the two days, so thank you to all our partners who supported the event.”
Partners include A1 Steam Locomotive Trust, Bishop Auckland College, British Transport Police, CAF Rail, Community Rail Lancashire, CrossCountry, Darlington Borough Council Travel Advisors, Darlington College, Locomotion, LNER, Mott MacDonald, Network Rail, Northern, North East Combined Authority, the Railway Children charity, Samaritans, Shildon Station Adopters, TransPennine Express and Tyne Valley Community Rail Partnership.
