The Association of Train Operating Companies offers a Professional Engineering Development Scheme, accredited by the IMechE and IET. Successful trainees will be employed in individual Train Operating Companies and you can expect training to be comprehensive and provide a fast-track route to becoming a Chartered Engineer.

Train Operators Need You!

The Railway industry can offer significant challenges and a lifetime of interest. Engineers make things happen, and this is especially true in the railways where the day-to-day railway operation is carried out in an intensely practical engineering environment. Every aspect of this depends upon successful engineering, which comes from highly competent engineers like you.

Engineering is vital for the delivery of a safe and successful railway service. Railway engineers provide the infrastructure, locomotives, vehicles and physical environment in which to operate. Train Operating Companies, between them, run a fleet of over 12,000 passenger carriages and locomotives plus freight fleets across Europe. All of these vehicles must be efficiently maintained and fit for operation: engineers take the lead in making this happen. Whether working on vehicle design, specification, operational and engineering safety or with the risk based maintenance regimes, engineers are involved at every stage of the process.

What we need from Applicants

You will need to have a MEng or BEng degree in mechanical or electrical engineering, which is accredited by either the Institution of Electrical Engineers or the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. It can be helpful to have good job mobility; jobs may well arise over a wide range of geographical locations.

Prior knowledge of the railway industry is not a pre-requisite, as full training is provided. What is essential is a good understanding of Electrical or Mechanical engineering fundamentals. Without this, the candidate will not be able to assimilate the issues involved and will not readily achieve Chartered Engineer status.

Other qualities sought are self motivation, ability to innovate and the ability to work well in teams. We do not require back-room academics, but do require candidates to have the ability to apply their engineering knowledge in an intensely practical environment.

Some Train Operators may decide to take on Undergraduates, who can be offered a year of railway industry experience. Such students will be offered a place on the ATOC Professional Engineering Development Scheme, giving them a head start towards their professional development once their degree is complete. As with Graduates, the candidates must be undertaking degrees which carry accreditation by an Engineering Institution.

Your development

Each trainee will be allocated a Mentor, a senior engineer in the industry, who will monitor your progress and be able to offer counselling and advice. Trainees will be involved in all the varied engineering aspects of the fleets, including design and construction as well as the comprehensive technical and maintenance aspects with which Train Operators are directly involved.

Want to know more? – View the APEDS Recruitment video (10mb). You will need Quicktime to watch this video.

Application details

If you wish to apply to the ATOC Graduate Scheme, please download the application questionnaire from the documents page and return it to graduates@atoc.org along with a copy of your CV. If you experience problems downloading the form please telephone 0207 841 8134 and we can send you one.

© Association of Train Operating Companies 2009.