Traffic - Rail industry intensifies its recruitment drive for missing train drivers
The rail industry in North Rhine-Westphalia wants to expand its job offensive against the train driver shortage in the new year. In 2023, 420 people were qualified as train drivers in North Rhine-Westphalia, the Fokus Bahn NRW alliance announced on request. The state is now providing a further six million euros to increase the number of new train drivers by at least 50 percent in 2024. In North Rhine-Westphalia, five percent of trains were recently canceled at very short notice - the most common reason for this was a lack of staff.
According to the industry, a good 150 of around 3,300 train driver positions are already vacant, and more than 600 additional train drivers will retire by 2027. This does not even include the reduction in weekly working hours, which the German Train Drivers' Union (GDL) intends to strike for in the coming weeks. Such a wage agreement would result in "massive additional requirements for several hundred train drivers", says a spokeswoman for the Fokus Bahn state program.
In its job offensive, the industry is primarily recruiting career changers who will be retrained for the new job in the locomotive in just over a year. This helps to combat the staff shortage more quickly than the traditional three-year training program. Programs for dispatchers and customer advisors are also being expanded as part of Fokus Bahn. Since 2019, politicians and eleven rail companies have joined forces in the Fokus Bahn NRW initiative to pool their measures in the search for personnel.
However, representatives of the relevant transport associations do not expect this to change the many train cancellations caused by staff shortages in the short term.
SPNV Quality Report 2022 Reliability rate 1st half of 2023 Reasons for disruptions 1st half of 2023 Current train cancellations Fokus Bahn NRW
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- To address the increasing train driver shortage, the traffic industry in North Rhine-Westphalia is focusing on retraining career changers, aiming to qualify 50% more train drivers in 2024 with additional funding.
- Despite the recent recruitment efforts of the railroad industry in Düsseldorf, five percent of trains were recently canceled in North Rhine-Westphalia due to a lack of staff, making it necessary to fill over 600 vacant train driver positions by 2027.
- In its effort to combat the shortage of train drivers, the Fokus Bahn NRW alliance in North Rhine-Westphalia is not only focusing on train drivers but also expanding programs for dispatchers and customer advisors, as part of a collaborative initiative involving politicians and eleven rail companies.
Source: www.stern.de
