Latest news with #drivershortage
Japan Times
19-05-2025
- Automotive
- Japan Times
Seven-Eleven testing delivery robots in Japan
Amid a serious truck driver shortage, convenience store chain Seven-Eleven Japan began a trial delivery service using robots on public roads in a western Tokyo suburb on Monday. In the experimental project involving two stores in the city of Hachioji, two robots at each outlet carry items ordered through the 7NOW delivery service app and loaded manually with them. The four-wheeled box-type robots, which can travel up to 6 kph, are designed to run on sidewalks while following traffic lights and dodging obstacles. After conducting the tests until February next year, Seven-Eleven Japan will consider the feasibility of the robot delivery service, which is expected to help the company cope with a driver shortage and better serve older customers who have difficulty going out shopping.
The Guardian
11-05-2025
- The Guardian
‘It's an illogical job': Why driving a train isn't as cushy as it might seem
Few professions' pay have aroused such incredulous ire as train drivers: earning an average of nearly £70,000 a year, going on strike to demand more, and they don't even have to steer. But if it really is such a cushy number, why doesn't Britain have enough drivers – and what does it take to join their ranks? Driver shortages have become a leading cause of disruption on Britain's railways; about seven out of eight 'P-coded' cancellations, made the night before travel, are down to a missing driver. Parts of the timetable still rely on drivers working voluntary overtime. Also looming is a potential mass exodus, with thousands of drivers recruited in boom years now approaching retirement. That prompted the government to announce this week that it was changing the rules to allow 18-year-olds to start driving trains – two years younger than the current legal minimum. But as recent job adverts for Northern Railway show, driving may not be quite the money for old rope that headlines sometimes imply. The training salary of £26,000 rises to £62,000 in three years; but the attributes required include 'diligence and moral courage', 'zero tolerance for drugs and alcohol' and 'exceptional concentration skills within a low-stimulus environment', not to mention 3am starts. Still, the Department for Transport wants at least 5,000 more drivers and hopes that gen Z will help them meet that target. According to the DfT, nearly half of qualified drivers are over the age of 50, while only 3% are under 30. In the East Midlands Railway (EMR) training centre, at the back of Derby train station, the new recruits are typically later life career changers, including some who work in different roles in the railway. 'We have a lot of ex-police, ex-fire brigade, who tend to like the rules and regulations,' says Mark Letman, EMR's lead operations training manager and himself ex-army. He oversees 50 to 60 trainees a year, starting with an 18-week intensive theory course on the drivers' rulebook. Tim Joyce, 53, is retraining after 30 years in the fire service. Of his new life, he says: 'It's similar in many ways – you have to learn the rules but ultimately be ready to apply them in the real world.' He shows his copy of the rulebook, known as 'the brick' or 'the bible': a hefty tome generously bookmarked with multicoloured labels. 'These modules are up to 100 pages each and there are maybe 40 of them,' Joyce says. Letman picks up the brick and counts through: 'Twenty-one.' Either way, it looks heavy for a driver to have to lug around every day. 'He carries it between his ears,' Letman says, tapping his head with a look that suggests this Guardian correspondent will never be a train driver. The trainees have been through two rounds of interviews as well as psychometric tests – on which the failure rate alone is 60% to 70%. The exam on the rulebook requires a 90% score to pass and driver competency is checked every two years. Drivers have to live near a depot and travel there and back when other public transport is probably unavailable. That means most are recruited locally – though in EMR's case that can be London as well as Boston. Anita Bradfield, 60, is in training to work out of St Pancras, having already swapped a career in dancing to work for Network Rail as a mobile operations manager. 'I'd go out to assist drivers and be seeing them every day – I thought it'd be good to have a go!' she says. 'It's a challenge and good learning. No day is ever the same.' If the trainees pass the theory exam, they go on to what Letman calls the 'traction phase': learning the nuts and bolts of train driving in class and using a new £1.5m simulator. Only then are they sent to the depot with a mentor and instructors to rack up 200 hours of driving under instruction before being let loose alone with passengers. The whole process takes at least eight months. Among the EMR trainees, Charlie Potts, at 22, is part of the more elusive demographic the industry is chasing, having decided after a geography and urban planning degree to listen to his old man. 'My dad was a train driver – and he always talked it up.' School leavers without such connections could now be persuaded, Letman says. 'The good thing now is we can go into schools and say it could be a career now, for life.' Sign up to Headlines UK Get the day's headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning after newsletter promotion That could diversify the workforce, the industry hopes. According to Aslef, the train drivers union, the average entry age is 34, which Mick Whelan, the general secretary, says 'concerns us massively'. Few women in particular, he says, want to change careers at that point in life. One of those trying the EMR simulators, though not yet aiming to switch jobs, was the transport secretary, Heidi Alexander. 'The driver shortage problem is a genuine problem across the UK,' she said. 'Especially in parts of the country, strangely, where we're trying hardest to improve services, like the north-east.' The new age rules, Alexander said, were only 'part of the puzzle' but could make a big difference. 'Giving young people when they're leaving school or college the ability to go straight into training to be a driver, instead of having to worry what they're going to do for a couple of years, is really significant.' The pandemic exacerbated the shortage of drivers: Covid-era regulations halted training and many drivers also sought a better work-life balance. Fewer passengers and lower fare revenue also left the government underwriting train companies, leaving a cash-strapped sector freezing pay. Strikes ensued and a loss of goodwill persists. Much of the railway relies on rest-day working, or voluntary overtime, and in many places, drivers no longer fancy it. But there is still demand for jobs, Whelan says. 'We've seen places like Wales recently advertise drivers' jobs and they've been inundated.' So why can't we recruit more? 'It's the hurdles,' Whelan says. 'It's an illogical job when you think about it, sitting in a little can, working at 120 miles an hour, relying on the infrastructure below you and pressing a little handle to stop at a point three miles away you can't see. People keep making out if you drive a bus, drive a car, you can drive a train. You can't.' Aslef continues to campaign for what it calls 'dignity at work'. While passenger carriages, air-conditioning and seats have been refurbished, drivers have sometimes been left in old cabs. Drivers also have to cope with sparse toilet facilities. In one tragic case in 2022, a driver was killed by another train after, accident investigators believe, stopping in a siding to urinate. And, Whelan says, 'People forget it's shift work. When you're walking down a siding at 3.20am in the rain to get a train ready and it's freezing cold, it's not quite as pretty as when you're rolling into a station in the sunlight.'
BBC News
07-05-2025
- Automotive
- BBC News
Minimum age to be a train driver lowered to 18
Minimum age to be a train driver lowered to 18 Just now Share Save Jennifer Meierhans Business reporter, BBC News Share Save Getty Images Eighteen-year-olds will be allowed to drive trains after the minimum age was lowered from 20 in a bid to tackle driver shortages. UK rail services are frequently disrupted due to a lack of drivers being available, and the problem is set to get worse with companies struggling to replace a growing number of people retiring with new recruits, the government said. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander announced the change as "bold action to improve train services and unlock thousands of jobs". Union Aslef said it would open up opportunities for school or college leavers, while the Rail Safety and Standards Board said its research found "18-year-olds are capable of safely becoming train drivers". In the UK several train companies rely on "rest day working" - when drivers voluntarily work extra shifts to run timetabled services. But disruption can be caused to passenger journeys when there are not enough volunteers or drivers are off sick. Some 87% of cancellations made the night before a service is scheduled to run are due to driver shortages, according to the Department for Transport (DfT). The average age of a UK train driver is 48, with 30% set to reach retirement age by 2029, it said. Fewer than 9% of train drivers are female, while under 12% are from an ethnic minority. 'Overwhelming support'
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Government to lower minimum age for train drivers in desperate bid to cut shortages
Government to lower minimum age for train drivers in desperate bid to cut shortages The DfT said a consultation on lowering the minimum age for drivers received 'overwhelming support from across the industry' (AFP via Getty Images) In a bid to tackle driver shortages and service disruptions, the UK government has announced plans to lower the minimum age for train drivers to 18. The law is currently 20. Rail operators currently rely heavily on drivers working overtime to maintain scheduled services, a practice the Department for Transport (DfT) hopes to reduce by expanding the pool of eligible drivers. This move aims to improve the reliability of rail services across Britain. It said 87% of cancellations made the night before a service is scheduled to run are caused by driver shortages. The average age of a UK train driver is 48, with 30% set to reach retirement age by 2029. ADVERTISEMENT Fewer than 9% of train drivers are female, while under 12% are from an ethnic minority. The size of the workforce is forecast to decline over the coming years, as drivers are retiring at a faster rate than new ones are being recruited. The DfT said a consultation on lowering the minimum age for drivers – carried out last year by the Conservative government – received 'overwhelming support from across the industry'. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said: 'We're taking bold action to improve train services and unlock thousands of jobs. 'We're committed to getting the economy moving and a big part of that is getting young people into the workforce, putting them on track for a skilled and fulfilling career which will boost growth across the country and help deliver our Plan for Change. 'We're future-proofing our railways against delays and cancellations caused by a shortage of drivers, ensuring that we can provide reliable, passenger-focused train journeys under Great British Railways (GBR) for decades to come.' Members of Aslef will walk out on March 31 to May 24, threatening disruption to services on the East Coast main line (Danny Lawson/PA) (PA Wire) The Government plans to establish GBR as a new public sector body which will oversee rail infrastructure management and train operation. ADVERTISEMENT Mick Whelan, general secretary of train drivers' union Aslef, said: 'At the moment, young people who want to become train drivers leave school or college at 18, get other jobs, and we miss out as an industry as they don't wait around until they turn 20 to find a career.' He added that the new policy will 'increase diversity in the driver's cab' as well as encouraging more young people to take on the role. Among other nations that have lowered the age for train drivers are France, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland, according to the DfT. Transport for London opened up its train driver apprenticeships on the Underground to 18-year-olds in 2007. Training to become a driver of mainline trains generally takes between one and two years. The DfT said there are several steps before the minimum age can be lowered. ADVERTISEMENT This includes the industry developing plans to integrate younger employees, and amending existing laws. Assessment and qualification standards will be unchanged. Industry body the Rail Safety and Standards Board said its research 'determined that 18-year-olds are capable of safely becoming train drivers'. The DfT believes new job and apprenticeship opportunities for people aged 18 could become available as early as December.
Telegraph
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Labour plans to let 18-year-olds drive trains
Applicants as young as 18 will be allowed to drive trains amid concerns over driver shortages. The minimum age to take on the role in Britain will be lowered from 20, the Department for Transport (DfT) has announced. Rail services are frequently disrupted because several operators rely on drivers voluntarily working extra shifts to run timetabled services. Around 87 per cent of cancellations made the night before a service is scheduled to run are caused by driver shortages. The Government hopes cutting the age at which people can qualify as train drivers will reduce this reliance on rest-day working. The average age of a UK train driver is 48, with 30 per cent set to reach retirement age by 2029. The size of the workforce is forecast to decline over the coming years, as drivers are retiring at a faster rate than new ones are being recruited. The DfT said a consultation on lowering the minimum age for drivers – carried out last year by the Conservative government – received 'overwhelming support from across the industry'. Heidi Alexander, the Transport Secretary, said: 'We're taking bold action to improve train services and unlock thousands of jobs. 'We're committed to getting the economy moving and a big part of that is getting young people into the workforce, putting them on track for a skilled and fulfilling career which will boost growth across the country and help deliver our Plan for Change. 'We're future-proofing our railways against delays and cancellations caused by a shortage of drivers, ensuring that we can provide reliable, passenger-focused train journeys under Great British Railways [GBR] for decades to come.' The Government plans to establish GBR as a new public body that will oversee rail infrastructure management and train operation. 'Increase diversity' Mick Whelan, the general secretary of train drivers' union Aslef, said: 'At the moment, young people who want to become train drivers leave school or college at 18, get other jobs, and we miss out as an industry as they don't wait around until they turn 20 to find a career.' He added that the new policy will 'increase diversity in the driver's cab' as well as encouraging more young people to take on the role. Among other nations that have lowered the age for train drivers are France, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland, according to the DfT. Transport for London opened up its train driver apprenticeships on the Underground to 18-year-olds in 2007. Training to become a driver of mainline trains generally takes between one and two years. The DfT said there are several steps before the minimum age can be lowered, including developing plans to integrate younger employees, and amending existing laws. Assessment and qualification standards will be unchanged. The Rail Safety and Standards Board said its research 'determined that 18-year-olds are capable of safely becoming train drivers'. The DfT believes new job and apprenticeship opportunities for 18-year-olds could become available as early as December.
