You CAN be a railway engineer, York girls told at 'mythbusting' event

That was the message to York schoolgirls at a ‘mythbusting’ event hosted by Network Rail ahead of International Women’s Day.

A team from Network Rail visited The Mount School, where 51 girls in years 10 and 12 are weighing up their career options for once they finish their GCSEs or sixth form education.

They talked about opportunities for women in the rail industry, and explained about apprenticeships.

The girls were then asked to design a bridge - and as they did so had to solve some of the challenges a real-life bridge-building project would face, including budget limitations, supply chain issues, and environmental concerns.

Network rail staff leading the 'Mythbuster' event at The Mount School (Image: Network Rail)

The students were invited to take on various roles, including project manager, project sponsor and environmental manager, to get them thinking about how projects come together.

The event, at the Mount School last Thursday, was organised and facilitated by Lily Shimmin, Network Rail’s portfolio manager for the Eastern region .

It included a presentation about what Network Rail does, and invited the girls to write about their conceptions about working in the railway.

Network Rail were on-hand to answer questions and talk about their own experiences of being a woman working in the rail industry.

The Network Rail team who led a 'Mythbusting' event at York's Mount School (Image: Network Rail)

The rail company says it plans to expand myth-buster events to schools across Yorkshire in order to inspire the next generation of women as part of International Women’s Day celebrations this week.

Lily Shimmin said: “These events are a great way to engage and inform girls on what it is like to be a woman working in rail at an age where they are choosing the next steps on their life path.

“Growing up, events like this were never hosted at my school and I wanted to organise something that reached out to students at key points in their education to show the various opportunities for women in the rail industry.

“I hope we can expand these events out across regions and reach out to a range of schools. It is so important to make sure that women and girls feel able to pursue a career in any industry they wish.”

The real thing: Network Rail staff laying track (Image: Network Rail)

Mount school deputy head James Waddington added: “The girls have had the opportunity to find out more about Network Rail as an employer and to talk about different routes into jobs such as apprenticeships and graduate schemes.

"They were also able to work on their own projects building bridges where they had to take on individual roles that they might have to do in the real-world of work.

“It is so important for the girls to know what is out there in terms of opportunities, they made great progress in the session, and they now have a much wider understanding of some of the roles that would be available to them in a company like Network Rail.

“Especially as an all-girls school, it is vital to challenge any gender stereotypes that exist in jobs in the rail industry and to show that women can thrive just as strongly.”