Industry insights on skills needs
The Rail IRC’s 2019 Skills Forecast identifies the top priority skills in the Rail sector as:
- Digital skills
- Safety skills.
Additionally, the top priority industry and occupation skills are:
- Track vehicle operations
- Maintenance /servicing
- Signalling.
The top five generic skills in order of importance are listed as:
- Design mindset / Thinking critically / System thinking / Solving problems
- Learning agility / Information literacy / Intellectual autonomy and self-management (adaptability)
- Managerial / Leadership
- Technology
- Communication / Virtual collaboration / Social intelligence.
According to the job vacancy data, the top requested skills by employers were communication skills and planning skills. The most advertised Rail occupations were Train Driver and Labourers nec. The top employers for Rail workers were Aurizon Holdings, Pacific National and the New South Wales Government.
Furthermore, the Rail IRC’s 2019 Skills Forecast states nearly 94% of employers in the sector reported experiencing a skills shortage during the last 12 months. The job roles related to the skills shortages were:
- Engineers
- Educators, trainers and assessors
- Signalling technicians
- Train drivers
- Track workers.
Reasons employers indicated for the shortage in order of frequency were:
- Ageing workforce / current staff retiring
- Competition from other organisations
- Cost / time to achieve the required qualification
- Wages / salaries considered too low
- Unattractive job / poor industry image.
The Rail IRC’s 2019 Skills Forecast identified that new skills will be required due to the development of new technologies and innovations to improve network operations, reduce power consumption, smarter monitoring and asset management processes, and advanced safety, threat detection and intervention. The innovations discussed include the European Train Control System (ETCS), Advanced Train and Management System (ATMS), wireless signalling and sensors, automation and driverless systems, Satellite Based Augmentation Systems (SBAS), Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology and Augmented (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) systems, to develop and design new infrastructure and provide simulation-based rail control operations training.
Four industry workforce, skills developments or trends that have emerged since the release of the Rail IRC’s 2019 Skills Forecast are identified in the Rail IRC’s 2020 Skills Forecast (abridged annual update). They relate to new technologies and automation within signalling and communications systems; train and rail vehicle operations; track and asset management; and customer service.
Building on the industry workforce, skills developments or trends identified in the previous two years, the Rail IRC’s 2021 Industry Outlook (abridged annual update) highlights several opportunities and challenges for the Maritime industry sector under the categories of automation, asset maintenance, safety, cybersecurity, customer service and rail projects:
- The use of automated driverless trains, Advanced Train Management System (ATMS), and Automation of roll by inspections have been identified by the industry as requiring the workforce to have a mix of basic, intermediate, and advanced digital literacy skills and knowledge, and the need to strengthen risk intelligence, problem solving and decision making within competency standards.
- New technologies including sensors and electronics under train carriages or on rail tracks, acoustic monitoring and smart plastic components will require the asset maintenance workforce to have new competencies associated with predicting faults, moving to predictive maintenance of track and associated infrastructure including basic digital literacy, data manipulation and data analysis skills, understanding of the impact and how to interface with wearable technologies. Rollingstock trades will also require changes in their rail training packages and new units of competence, and the technologies may potentially broaden career paths across engineering and rollingstock.
- The Australian Government has invested in making the national rail network safer by replacing on-track signalling with Global Positioning System (GPS) and wireless technologies. A review and merging of the Certificate IV in Rail Safety Management and Certificate IV in Rail Investigation has been proposed to update skills related to preventive management of rail safety, behaviour changes, and in the case of an incident, investigation capability. The IRC is also proposing to develop one new Skill Set and a Unit of Competency to provide workers the required skills for piloting rail traffic.
- Workforce skills need to be progressively developed to minimise the risk of cyber-attacks and be capable of reinstating digital systems as quickly as possible should a cybersecurity incident occur, including compliance with regulatory requirements. Commonwealth legislation regarding critical assets and the impact on knowledge requirements for the workforce will need to be monitored.
- The workforce requires customer service skills in interfacing between digital systems and customers, including the ability to determine and meet customer expectations, and find and interpret information effectively. Passenger safety, security, ticketing technology and communications skills will be addressed in the current review of the Certificate II and III in Rail Customer Service.
- Attracting and retaining young workers remains a challenge for the industry. There is a need to establish clear career pathways and training provision to contribute to the transferability of skills as a lack of harmonisation and skills gaps is challenging the ability to be able to transfer skills within Australia or from other industries.
Technological changes also feature in the Rail Industry Profile by the Logistics & Defence Skills Council in Western Australia. Simulators utilising augmented and virtual reality provide the opportunity to improve safety and training in the sub-sector. Rail maintenance is becoming more electronic, requiring information technology skills as well as traditional mechanical skills. The role of train driver continues to evolve and with the role of rail signal controllers automated and done remotely by centralised Train Controllers the role no longer exists in Western Australia. The changes due to continued digital integration could potentially result in the need for upskilling to address significant workforce and knowledge gaps.
As stated in the National Rail Action Plan, which complements the 10-year National Rail Program, there has been a large increase in government investment in rail projects, presenting challenges and opportunities for the industry sub-sector, with current analysis has showing a number of occupations will have skills shortages. The Australasian Railway Association reports work on major rail projects in the next five years will more than double the construction activity seen at the peak of the mining boom. Major projects include Sydney Metro, Cross River Rail, Melbourne Metro and WA’s METRONET for passenger networks and the Inland Rail project for freight. The Infrastructure Market Capacity report estimates demand for rail track workers will increase by round 375% in the next three years to 2024, and demand for rail track will triple, growing faster than any other material. The report states infrastructure labour and occupations are not all the same, and sub-sectors tend to have a unique sub-set of occupations. Infrastructure Workforce Skills Supply cites reports from industry stakeholders of worsening shortage of roles integral to rail infrastructure, particularly rail signallers, systems engineers, and rail track workers, and with some positions requiring high levels of technical knowledge, shortages of a few individuals can present significant challenges to rail project completions. The 2021 Skills Priority List includes Train Controller and Train Driver under occupations in national shortage with moderate future demand, and Railway Signal Operator, Railway Station Manager and Railway Track Worker under occupations not in national shortage with moderate future demand.
A survey undertaken on how young people in the 18-30 age group perceived careers in rolling stock for the Reimagining the workforce: building smart, sustainable and safe public transport project indicated their knowledge of the options for careers in public transport was largely limited to driver positions, and there was little consciousness of the significant number of jobs in manufacturing and maintenance of trains, buses and trams. The challenges identified through discussions and surveys of industry participants in a further project report, Reimagining the workforce: training for a future rolling stock workforce, include a lack of cohesion and defined pathways between rolling stock industry, the educational sector and the community; no cohesive understanding as to how new technologies and social changes in society will manifest throughout the industry in the next 10 years; a lack of workforce profiles that can be used to support strategic planning of future training needs; and responses to training issues in rolling stock have been predominantly reactive with little impact long term workforce issues. The opportunities discussed include the upskilling and reskilling of people who are right for the job but have skills gaps; effective attraction and retention of employees could be supported by training; embedding specific modules in current training and higher educational programs to expose students to the rolling stock sector; rethinking apprenticeships and designing programs that reflect what employees will be doing in 5-10 years.
