High Speed Two’s new national high-speed rail college will have two campuses – Birmingham and Doncaster.
Set to open in 2017, the National College for High Speed Rail is being established to train the future generation of rail engineers who will deliver HS2, providing vocational training in high-speed rail engineering.
The Doncaster campus (pictured) will be located at the heart of the town’s railway community at its 5.1-acre Lakeside Campus. Birmingham’s city centre Science Park will accommodate the West Midland’s centre.
Birmingham and Doncaster were shortlisted alongside Manchester and Derby in June.
Constructing HS2’s training facilities outside of London is one way that the Government hopes to demonstrate the project’s benefits for the country as a whole.
Throughout the construction of HS2, around 2,000 apprenticeships and 25,000 jobs will be created.
More than 10,000 people are currently employed within the rail sector in Doncaster, according to the Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), which supported Doncaster’s bid.
The college will be headed by Crossrail chairman Terry Morgan.
Prime Minister David Cameron said, ‘The benefits of high-speed rail will not just be seen by those commuting between London and the North, but through the thousands of local jobs and apprenticeships created because of HS2.
‘The opening of this National College will also ensure that we have a pool of locally-trained workers with the right skills to draw upon for future projects.’
The national HS2 college will develop a ‘hub and spoke’ model, bringing in other training providers that can support the college’s skills objectives.
Managing director of Unipart Rail T&RS George Tillier is the interim chairman of the Centre for Rail
Engineering and Technical Expertise (CREATE), which led Doncaster’s bid. He said, ‘This decision is tremendous news for the rail and engineering sector in Doncaster and further afield.
‘There has been incredible backing from so many people to bring this high-speed rail college to the region and their commitment has been fully justified by the decision. Doncaster’s rail heritage, connectivity and cluster of leading rail businesses is second to none.’
