National Apprenticeship Week 2025

10-16 February 2025 is National Apprenticeship Week - a time when the education and skills sector get the opportunity to celebrate the achievements of apprentices around the country and the positive impact they make to communities, businesses, and the wider economy. The theme for this year is “Skills for Life”.

The Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU) has now passed the halfway mark of its ambitious aim to take on 590 apprentices across the rail upgrade between Manchester and York, via Leeds and Huddersfield.

The number of apprentices on the multi-billion-pound programme has reached 346, primarily recruited from locations along the route and amounting to over £15 million in value to society, according to the Rail Social Value Tool.

Rail Social Value Tool

Apprentices are working in various disciplines across TRU, including Civil Engineering, Project Management, Quantity Surveying and Ecology. Many TRU apprentices have university degrees built into their apprenticeships, taking one or two days a week off work to study.

“Providing opportunities through apprenticeships is at the heart of the TRU story. A railway fit for the North of England is being built by the communities through which TRU travels.

Our apprentices are key to the TRU programme and reaching the halfway point of our ambitious apprenticeship intake underlines our commitment to developing skills and employment prospects for TRU communities.”
Gordon Kells, Interim TRU Managing Director

Apprenticeship opportunities on TRU

Business Administration Apprentice [Level 3 Business Administration]

Location: York

Contract Type:Permanent opportunity for new entrants to Network Rail only

Start date: September 2025

Office Requirement: Hybrid with an expectation of minimum 3 days per week working from the York office. Working from other TRU offices in Leeds/Huddersfield/Manchester or occasional travel to other sites is expected

Entry Requirements: You’ll need to have 2 GCSEs at Grade C/4 or above to apply, this must include English and Maths

Education Provider: York College. Further course details and entry requirements: Business Administration… | York College & University Centre

Assessment Centre: 25 April 2025. York

Close Date:  28 February 2025

Find out more

 

Data Analyst Apprentice [Level 4 Data Analyst] x2 roles

Location: York or Manchester

Contract Type: Permanent opportunity for new entrants to Network Rail only

Start date: September 2025

Office Requirement: Hybrid with an expectation of 3 days per week working from the York or Manchester office depending on your home office location

Entry Requirements: You’ll need to have 2 GCSE’s at Grade C/4 or above to apply, this must include English and Math’s

Education Provider: Projecting Success. Further course details: Data Analyst Apprenticeship | Level 4 | Projecting Success

Assessment Centre: 25 April 2025. York.

Closing Date: 28 February 2025

Find out more

 

Human Resources Apprentice [Level 3 HR Support]

Location: York

Contract Type: Permanent opportunity for new entrants to Network Rail only

Start date: September 2025

Office Requirement: Hybrid with an expectation of 3 days per week working from the York office

Entry Requirements: You’ll need to have 4 GCSE’s at Grade C/4 or above to apply, this must include English and Math’s.

Education Provider: York College. Further course details: Human Resources Support… | York College & University Centre

Assessment Centre: 25 April 2025. York.

Closing Date: 28 February 2025

Find out more

 

Level 6 Rail and Rail Systems Engineering Apprenticeship x2 roles

We have two opportunities available:

Mechanical Engineering pathway: We are looking for someone passionate about mechanical engineering to support our 76 miles of overhead line electrification works, telecoms engineering for our cutting-edge digital signalling and telecommunications system upgrades, or track/civil engineering.

Track Engineering pathway: This role involves working on our extensive track upgrade projects across the route.

University award: BEng (Honours) Railway Engineering

Location: Leeds

Contract Type: Permanent opportunity for new entrants to Network Rail only

Start date: September 2025

Office Requirement: Hybrid with an expectation of a minimum of 3 days per week working from a TRU office

Entry Requirements: 112 UCAS points (including a Mathematics-based subject) plus GCSE (or equivalent) with Mathematics and English at grade C or grade 4, or above

Education Provider: Sheffield Hallam University. Further course details and entry requirements: Rail and rail systems senior engineer | Sheffield Hallam University

Assessment Centre: 25 April 2025. York.

Closing Date: 28 February 2025

Find out more

 

L4 Project Management Apprenticeship – Industry Wide Rail Apprenticeship

PlanBEE Rail is a unique higher apprenticeship programme designed to recruit and train the next generation of project managers.

Developed by Network Rail, its supply chain partners, Gateshead College, and NSAR (the National Skills Academy for Rail), the programme prepares you for a career in rail project management with a strong emphasis on digital skills and multi-disciplinary team working.

Start date: September 2025

Entry Requirements: You should have already completed GCSE (Level 2) and A Level (or equivalent Level 3) study and be eligible to apply for university level study in the UK.

You need 3 A Levels at grade C and above or a BTEC Extended Diploma (averaging merits/distinctions), or the equivalent of 96 UCAS points plus GCSE Maths, Science and English at grade 4 (C) or above.

Closing Date: 23 March 2025

Find out more

 

 

Why choose an apprenticeship with TRU?

Our apprentices on TRU have identified the cost of living crisis, tuition fee debt, career prospects and enhanced hands-on learning as reasons for choosing apprenticeships, but lets hear from them in their own words…

Current Apprentices:

“Someone I know went to a good university and got a first-class honours degree in architecture, but couldn’t get a job due to a lack of experience. I didn’t want that to happen, I wanted to work in what I’ve chosen to do. That was the main deciding factor in choosing an apprenticeship for me.

There's a miscomprehension that you get paid very little to be someone’s printing assistant, getting told what to do. But the truth is that companies like TRU put time and effort into developing you as an apprentice.”
Christopher, TRU Commercial Apprentice

“One of the reasons I chose an apprenticeship was to pay my parents a bit of rent. We’re a family of five and it's quite hard. There are people my age who at 18, 19, 20 want to support their parents while times are tough.

I have developed my communication and leadership skills and learned the art of dealing with challenging behaviours during my apprenticeship with TRU.

But the part I have enjoyed the most is the networking; speaking with people from across such a large project every day has allowed me to learn so much.”
Ellis, TRU Project Management Apprentice

Past Apprentices:

 

Future Apprentices:

A Day In The Life of a TRU Apprentice

Follow Brooke and Jacob, two current TRU Apprentices, as they take us through their interesting and varied days…

 

TRU is creating tens of thousands of jobs both directly and indirectly, including 8,000 new and safeguarded roles, with 60% of the construction workforce employed from within 25 miles of the route and 80% within 40 miles.

TRU is also set to deliver a minimum 50p value to society for every £1 spent on construction, generating £4.28 billion of social value, as outlined in the TRU Sustainability Strategy ‘Our Guiding Compass’ which was first published in 2023:

 

 

  View Our Guiding Compass – TRU Sustainable Development Strategy here