NTC and Cisco partner to jump start digital rail skills training
The National Transport Commission (NTC) has signed a memorandum of understanding with global technology company Cisco to accelerate the development of digital rail skills across Australia and improve rail interoperability.
Around 40% of existing rail workers will need to learn new digital skills over the next five years as technology advances and modern signalling and train control systems are introduced. The number of specialised digital workers needed is expected to grow by 84%.
The NTC, through its National Rail Skills Hub (NRSH), is working on new approaches to training that will ensure we have a workforce able to build, operate and maintain the new systems. This includes the development of a uniform national digital training curriculum aligned to the Australian Qualification Framework.
The agreement signed with Cisco will jump start this development.
The collaboration will identify the specific skills required to prepare the digital rail workforce of the future and then provide training in:
- Cybersecurity
- Networking
- Internet of Things (IoT)
- Data Science and Programming.
“With $155 billion of rail investments underway across Australia over the next decade, our rail industry needs to attract a new generation of workers. From signallers to cyber engineers, rail needs many more people with digital skills,” NTC CEO Dr Gillian Miles said.
“Our MoU for a digital skills training pilot with Cisco will give us a jump start on building this new national curriculum for digital skills in rail.”
Collaborative activities may include strategic workforce development, culture and change management, career transitioning, job design, learning pathways, course creation, train-the-trainers, resource sharing and learning management system administration.