Pay perks to switch it up for rail sector 70,000 workers short

It’s a sector few school leavers and career changers have in mind, but as the industry rushes to fill a shortfall of 70,000 workers over the next five years, now is a great time to cash in.

27-year-old site engineer Esma Bragg is in the minority as a woman working in rail – and she wants to see more girls take up the call. Picture: Richard Dobson

The peak body for the Australian rail sector is calling on school leavers and career changers to take on $200,000 jobs as they fight to fill a shortfall of 70,000 workers in the industry, with approximately 21,000 of those vacancies in NSW alone.

Government investment in rail infrastructure in excess of $150 billion is going to require far more manpower to maintain and operate than currently exists, especially if networks across the country fail to fill the roles of 20,000 people expected to retire by 2028, the Australasian Railway Association (ARA) warns.

“With a record $154 billion infrastructure pipeline over the next 15 years, the rail industry is undergoing significant transformation that will benefit communities right across NSW by getting more freight off roads and onto rail as well as vastly improving commuter travel,” said ARA CEO Caroline Wilkie.

“To help make this happen, the ARA is undertaking a massive recruitment drive with its Work in Rail campaign to fill a critical workforce shortage,” she said.

Among the most urgent jobs to be filled are signalling technicians, who can take home up to $90,000 straight out of TAFE, mid-level electrical engineers making an average $111,000 per year and software engineers, who are paid as much as $214,000.

There will be upwards of 21,000 jobs up for grabs across NSW’s rail networks by 2028, the ARA estimates. Picture: Jeremy Piper

But it’s not only train drivers and signal workers the country is in critical need of, Ms Wilkie said, with unusual jobs like drone operators and heritage advisers also up for grabs.

“People might be surprised to know that there are more than 80 different careers in rail, with a variety of jobs suited to school leavers, graduates and both skilled and unskilled workers looking for a career change or to enter the workforce.”

Site engineer Esma Bragg, who works for Transport NSW's More Trains More Services project through a contract with John Holland. Picture: Richard Dobson

The ARA is looking to women as an essential demographic for sustaining the rail industry. Currently in NSW just 22 per cent of rail workers are women, and they are predominantly employed in corporate services.

27-year-old site engineer Esma Bragg, who works with Transport for NSW through John Holland, said she fell into her current role with no plans to work in the rail sector when she finished her civil engineering degree, and little clue of what the perks it could offer her – including flexible work hours and a substantial paycheck.

“Honestly, I don’t think we market ourselves well enough,” she said, “We don’t really put our industry out there.”

“I still think we can definitely do that better … I’m so passionate about getting the railways out there. Ever since (my interview) I’ve loved my job, and I’ve been preaching about it from then on.

“If I can do it, anyone can do it, and there are other pathways to become where I am as well. There’s a lot of TAFE courses that you could do just to get in the construction industry. You don’t necessarily have to do an engineering degree.”

Ms Bragg admits there are still moments where the gender gap among her colleagues makes work a little more challenging.

“If I’m being honest I do feel like I have to, you know, beat my chest a little bit louder in a room, for example, or just show my presence a little bit more. For some tasks, (others) might go to the male who’s even a step below me, because they probably think he’s more capable. There’s a bit of that,” she said.

“But I’m empowered by the other women that I do see. There is a shift in the paradigm.”