Alstom opens national Training Academy in Derby

Dame Margaret Beckett, Derby MP, and Nick Crossfield, Managing Director of Alstom UK & Ireland - Credit: Alstom

Alstom has opened its new Apprentice Training Academy during of National Apprenticeship Week 2023. Following an investment of £250,000 over the last two years, the new Training Academy was officially opened by Derby MP, Dame Margaret Beckett, accompanied by Nick Crossfield, Managing Director of Alstom UK & Ireland.

The theme for National Apprenticeship Week 2023 is ‘Skills for Life’. Alstom is committed to helping its apprentices to develop the skills and knowledge required for a rewarding career in the rail industry and help to develop a talented workforce that is equipped with skills for the future. 120 new apprentices and graduates will join Alstom in 2023.

 “It’s a real pleasure to open Alstom’s new National Training Centre during National Apprenticeship Week,” Dame Margaret Beckett, Derby MP, said. “I am delighted to see Alstom continuing to invest in Derby’s young people, and in the Litchurch Lane facility, the only factory in Britain with the capability to design, build and test new trains for the UK and for export.”

“Alstom has always believed in developing talent through formalised training, as we see apprentices are the future of our industry both here in Britain and around the world,” Nick Crossfield, Managing Director of Alstom UK & Ireland, said. “National Apprenticeship Week is the perfect time for us to open our Academy as we wanted to express our confidence in the future of the UK apprenticeships and the UK rail industry.”

About Alstom’s new Training Academy

The Training Academy is in a central location on Alstom’s Derby site and offers 1,600m2 of practical learning space comprising four classrooms, a canteen, coffee area, and break out study areas where the new trainees are inducted at Alstom. It also features a training hall containing a carriage and cab from the AVENTRA programme – the UK’s largest train manufacturing programme in a generation currently on the lines at Derby – where apprentices can gain practical experience working on carriages before joining a live manufacturing team.

All levels of apprentices and graduates now enter their new traineeship with Alstom through the Training Academy, no matter which of the 30 Alstom locations around the UK they will eventually work at.

In their first week, the new trainees are taught the company’s values as a leader in smart and sustainable mobility, including the Alstom Zero Deviation Plan, the Alstom Production System (APSYS), ethics and diversity standards, quality awareness and personal safety to ensure each new employee goes home safely every day.

2023s intake of 120 apprentices and graduates will be the first to formally benefit from the Academy scheme. Depending on career stream, each apprentice will spend an initial three weeks in the Academy learning the initial skills and competencies they need to perform their role, including a strong focus on safety and quality before they join their respective teams.

They will spend 30 to 40 hours a month attending the Academy throughout their apprenticeship. All courses are structured to complement each apprentice’s college or university course which they will also attend throughout their apprenticeship. Alstom works closely with Derby College as well as Derby, Nottingham and Sheffield Universities.