Pop and rail mogul Pete Waterman – one of few people who could feasibly be described in such a way – last night gave an impassioned plea to get more young workers into the rail industry, to improve apprenticeships and to keep traditional railway engineering skills from dying off.
He was the keynote speaker at the Young Railway Professionals’ annual dinner-dance in central London, and also made the case for HS2, urging the country to “not be so bloody British and just build the thing”, as our European neighbours would.
The event was brimming with optimism, as you’d expect in a room stuffed full of people with most of their careers ahead of them at a very exciting time for the rail industry. Let’s hope the projects in the pipeline deliver on the promises they’ve made.
