The appointment is part of the company’s wider development strategy for its Welsh base. Credit: Shutterstock.

The UK’s new railway training project, the Global Centre of Rail Excellence, has appointed a director of strategy and skills to lead its relationship between educators and industry partners. 

Newly appointed director Rob Forde was previously in post with National Rail, where he led the East Coast Digital Programme and other innovation projects. 

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Forde said the GCRE was vital to rail revitalisation and net zero promises: “The Global Centre of Rail Excellence will become Europe’s premier site for rail innovation, supporting the development of new ideas that will bring new products to market faster, help develop more cost-effective rail infrastructure and support the industry’s path to net zero.

“A clear long-term strategy and a sustainable skills pipeline is critical to those ambitions and I hope to bring my experience to bear in one of the most interesting and important developments anywhere in UK and European rail.”

GCRE CEO Simon Jones also mentioned the crucial talent and skills “pipeline” being built in south Wales: “To be a success, GCRE will need to develop a long-term pipeline of skills, working with schools, universities, colleges and the industry to ensure that both GCRE and its clients have access to the talented people it needs to support the high-quality research and innovation work we will do on-site.

“Building that pipeline of skills and, in particular, ensuring that people living near to the site can benefit from the jobs and skills we will be offering, is one of the most important things Rob will be working on.” 

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Funded by both the Welsh government and the UK government, GCRE is being built at the site of the Nant Helen former mine in Onllwyn at the head of the Dulais and Tawe valleys, on the regional border of Powys and Neath Port Talbot. The site is 25km from Swansea University.