70,000 Young People and Women Needed to Fill Jobs Across Aussie Rail Networks

A rail worker signals a train driver at Central railway station in Sydney, Australia, on Oct. 17, 2022. Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

The Australian Rail Network has said it urgently needs to tackle a chronic worker shortage across the nation’s rail network and fill 70,000 jobs across the country.

The Future Rail Skills forum held by the National Transport Commission and the Australasian Railway Association (ARA) in Melbourne, Victoria on July 28, discussed how the industry will become attractive to more women and young people to handle major expansion projects in the pipeline.

It comes five months after the release of a National Rail Action Plan where the Australian government committed more than $155 billion (US$103 billion) to rail projects to expand and modernise rail networks.

The investment will be allocated to trains, tracks, and innovative technology over the next 15 years, such as advanced signalling and train control systems to create faster, safer, and more frequent services. It will also help take cars off the road and cut emissions from freight.

However, National Transport Commission (NTC) chief executive Michael Hopkins said the gap between worker supply and demand in the rail industry is substantial.

“We need to attract 70,000 more people into rewarding careers in rail and recognise people’s skills from all backgrounds,” Hopkins said, reported AAP.

“Governments around the world are recognising the need to invest in rail to help decarbonise the economy and support population growth and greater productivity.”

More Diverse Workers Needed

The forum heard that only one in 10 people training for roles in the transport sector are female.

According to Australia’s rail skills training database, 11 percent of rail qualification enrolments are female and 2 percent of rail qualifications are apprentices or trainees.

“Rail cannot run on an old business model that starts with locking out half the workforce,” said Federal Skills and Training Minister Brendan O'Connor.

“Rail needs more young people, women, people of diverse backgrounds and a diversity of thinking.

“Collaboration across industry, government and unions is key to creating a rail workforce for the future, which must include more women, young people and people from diverse backgrounds.”

Due to technological advances from mechanical to digital over the next five years, the rail network will also need more people with digital skills, as digital roles are expected to grow by 54 percent.

With the technological advancements, it is expected that 40 percent of rail jobs will require digital retraining.

High-in-demand roles within the rail network will include systems analysts, software engineers, security specialists, network administrators and support engineers.

Females currently only make up 24 percent of the rail workforce and 11 percent of those in the rail freight workforce.

The data found that most (75 percent) of training for rail skills is delivered through private training providers, and only 3 percent of all rail enrolments are delivered by TAFEs (Technical and Further Education).

Of all rail skills training, 94 percent is funded privately by individuals or their employer.

Major Rail Projects

From the investments planned for Australia’s rail network, major publicly funded projects across New South Wales, Victoria, and Queensland will account for 77 percent of major project work in 2023-24.

Australia’s population is projected to increase by 3.8 million to just under 30 million by 2032. Australia’s rail construction activity is driven by population growth, urban expansion, and environmental concerns.

In the December 2022 Australia Rail Market Outlook (pdf), $129 billion (US$85.8 billion) in rail civil construction and maintenance costs are forecasted for the years up until 2031-32. This is compared to $96 billion (US$45.9 billion) from the 10 years prior.

Key mega projects include the $3.14 billion (US$2.09 billion) Inland Rail project to link Brisbane to Melbourne, the Melbourne Airport Rail Link (MARL) in Victoria, the Cross River Rail projects in Queensland, and metro passenger projects in New South Wales and Victoria to boost activity across the east coast states.

Rail maintenance activity is expected to increase each year for each state and territory not only due to the need to maintain a growing network but also due to rising rail remediation works given the increasing frequency of floods, droughts, bushfires, and coastal erosion that may impact the Australian rail network.

Australia’s rail network currently includes 29 networks, three different railway gauges, and 11 separate signalling systems.

It transports 56 percent of the nation’s freight and is expected to reach 72 percent of growth in demand over the next 10 years, reported the Rail Skills Hub.

Programs to Support Disadvantaged Australians

As part of the Victoria’s Big Build project, the Engineering Pathway Industry Cadetship (EPIC) was initiated as a program for refugee and asylum seeker engineers working on major transport infrastructure projects.

The 18-month program is an industry-first intiative that aims to bridge the gap that new Australians face in matching their international qualifications to Australian requirements for accessing professional employment.

The paid cadetship provides cadets with on-the-job local training and work experience, and also complete a graduate certificate in infrastructure engineering management through Swinburne University.

Victoria’s Big Build also has a GROW program that was designed to introduce people from disadvantaged backgrounds to employment, training opportunities, and pathways across the rail and public transport network.

The program is delivered by the Training for the Future initiative but is currently under review and will resume later in 2023.

“The ARA looks forward to working closely with the NTC to continue to support a strong and diverse rail workforce for the future,” ARA chief executive Caroline Wilkie said, reported Rail Express.