Virtual European Rail Academy

The European railway employment market is undergoing important changes due to macro-economic and societal trends such as demographic change and increased attention to diversity, adaptation to market and regulatory developments (liberalisation, increased intramodality,..)
In addition, new technologies such as automation, digitalisation, artificial intelligence etc. will have a great impact on the way we are going to work in the future. We will have to train our staff in this respect. At the same time we will see the baby boomers’ generations retire. This will result in a huge lack of technical experts. Change management will be more than ever at the heart of our business. We will all have to attract young people, young talents to new railway jobs, create an emotional connection to rail and take into account that young people wish to move, to exchange experience. This could be a unique chance to boost interoperability and harmonisation from scratch, to boost English as working language in the rail sector and to give rail training a new European brand. In addition, the railway sector is competing with other transport modes for some of its professions, and it faces a problem of attractiveness especially vis-à-vis younger generations and other under-represented groups, such as women.
These drivers of change are expected to have both a qualitative and quantitative impact on the European railway workforce, influencing for instance required skills and career prospects
Benefits:

• Leverage economies of scal:
  • Gain critical mass for leading edge programmes;
  • Get up to speed in digitalization.
• Foster network building & exchange:
  • Increase career opportunities for young talents;
  • Increase interoperability across Europe.
• Increase public awareness of rail sector:
  • Increase employer attractiveness;
  • Increase competitive position in talent market.
• Understand implications of demographic shift:
  • Develop best practices in dealing with Millennial