Electrification and plant apprentice Review

I work on any electrical equipment and items on the railway apart from the overhead line equipment. We work on things such as points heating which is the device which heats up the rails in low temperatures, transformers, generators and general building electrical maintenance such as heaters and light fittings.

I have learnt many new skills from my time so far as an apprentice. When I started, I had 0 electrical knowledge at all and had never even wired a plug up before. Now, I have gained so much knowledge from working at my depot and have improved on things such as a my use of hand tools and my understanding of electrical equipment

I enjoy the programme thoroughly, the help I get from depot is amazing and I couldn’t ask them to help me anymore than they do. Westwood is a great facility as well being away for 5 months was difficult but the practical assignments were useful and the staff very helpful too. The only downside is HMS Sultan being so far away.

The organisation is relatively good, I’ve never had an issue with getting in touch with my line managers since the day I started at Westwood and my depot knew when I was going to be there and how long to expect me for. Training dates for future are given well in advance also so holidays can be booked around them.

I receive endless support when it is needed from both my Team leader and all my colleagues at my depot. Nobody is ever too busy to help and everyone is always more than happy to share their knowledge and experiences they’ve had, with me to help me learn and progress.

The support at Westwood is good as if you are struggling and as a tutor to help you, they will always do their best, the only downside is their lack of railway knowledge. However, at HMS Sultan the training is brilliant and you learn a great deal to get you prepared for your future exams and job as a whole

Some qualifications are relevant in my job role such as the level 3 in Rail engineering as it is a good qualification to have and could help me progress in future as it shows I’ve worked my way up through the apprenticeship. But, the only negative is that they are heavily railway based so can’t be used too much outside of the railway

At my job personally, there is no extra curricular activities that we can do at the moment but if you got on well With the people at depot, there’d be no reason why you couldn’t make these activities happen if a few of you share similar interests etc.

Yes

Great apprenticeship, great qualifications, great memories through training and finally get a good stable job at the end of it that could last a lifetime if you stick at it, work hard and want to do well for yourself. The apprenticeship is great for a lot people as it is very broad and there are many jobs you can do.

Work hard from the get go from the first day at Westwood and get your work done as soon as possible as you can leave early sometimes if you’re lucky. Try your best to get involved with people at depot and be a likeable character because a good bond between people at dePot is key to making a great team.