The Bishop Line Community Rail Partnership (CRP) has brought together many of its stakeholders from across rail to host this year’s Rail Safety and Careers event.

More than 120 students from secondary schools along the Bishop Line attended the event at Locomotion in Shildon on 3 and 4 February.

Over each day, the students attended four workshops which would prepare them for safe and independent travel, as well as navigating the next steps in their education journey and introducing potential careers in rail.

Under the guidance of rail industry professionals, the students engaged in interactive sessions covering rail safety with virtual reality headsets, understanding their personality types and roles to suit, potential rail careers, looking after their mental well-being and understanding the impact of anti-social behaviour.

Each student was able to speak with the industry professionals about what their role involves and their individual career path, from apprenticeships and degrees to on-the-job training, giving real life examples which they could relate to. Such roles included drivers, travel safe officers and British Transport Police officers, as well as those behind the scenes in roles like engineering, planning, policy, safety, strategy, stakeholder management, sustainability and train performance.

The young people also had the chance to speak with representatives from local colleges who explained the relevant courses to access roles in the rail industry.

Felicity Machnicki, Bishop Line CRP officer, said: “It was wonderful to host another fantastic Rail Safety and Careers at Locomotion. Last year’s event has been shortlisted for a national Community Rail Award and we’re proud to say that this event was even better than in 2025. The museum was buzzing throughout the two days with students moving between the activities.

“Bishop Line CRP is so proud of our relationships with our industry partners, and we couldn’t run an event like this without their support, both in planning the event and delivery on the two days, so thank you to all our partners who supported the event: A1 Steam Locomotive Trust, Bishop Auckland College, British Transport Police, CAF Rail, Community Rail Lancashire, CrossCountry, Darlington Borough Council Travel Advisors, Darlington College, Locomotion, LNER, Mott MacDonald, Network Rail, Northern, North East Combined Authority, the Railway Children charity, Samaritans, Shildon Station Adopters, TransPennine Express and Tyne Valley Community Rail Partnership.”

Keep up to date with future news, projects and events from the Bishop Line CRP via their website.