The former National College for High Speed Rail is to reopen as a Network Rail Training Centre. The purpose-built Doncaster building has been empty for the last year following the closure of the college, as Tom Ingall reports...
Network Rail has taken a 25-year lease on the site from Doncaster City Council to develop a centre offering apprenticeships and trainee engineering opportunities. Jake Kelly, Network Rail’s Eastern Managing Director said, “It will be an industry leading facility which will enable us to give our current and future workforce bespoke training and education, in turn helping us run a safe and reliable railway. Work will now begin on getting it ready for our first cohort of colleagues.”
Doncaster has a rich railway heritage and when the government announced plans for a specialist college to train a new generation of engineers, supporting the development of high speed rail in the UK, it mounted a campaign to be its home. It also contributed to pre-construction development costs. In 2014 it was decided the campus would be split between the city and Birmingham.
Despite opening before the High Speed 2 rail line was pruned back first from Sheffield and Leeds and then Manchester, it struggled to attract students. Meant to cater for more than 1,500 students, reports suggest the roll never topped 100.
Rebranded the National College for Advanced Transport and Infrastructure in 2019, and taken over by the University of Birmingham, it finally shut down in July 2023 with staff being made redundant and remaining students transferred to courses at other institutions. Annual losses were said to be running at millions of pounds. At the time the Doncaster Chamber of Commerce said the Government were ‘pulling the arms and legs’ off HS2 and young people wouldn’t be inspired to enter the sector.
The building is owned by the City Council and is subject to a covenant stipulating it is used for post 16 education and training until 2043. Describing the reopening as great news for Doncaster, elected Mayor Ros Jones said, “We’ve been working on this for a year. It will benefit people across the country. Our city has a great rail legacy, and it is wonderful to see the tradition continuing, with more expertise joining our already successful rail industries which call Doncaster their home. We are a national rail hub.”
The main building includes classrooms, office space and a large open hall, currently home to an original Eurostar power car donated after retirement. While a short distance throw from the East Coast Main Line and the iPort Rail Terminal, the Carolina Way site is not rail connected but does have two long sections of plain line laid in its grounds. Currently there are no other details about when the building will open or how many Network Rail staff will be based on site.
Comment as guest
Comments
No comments have been made yet.