Rail Professional Magazine (June 2025) Article: More Than Just Technical
In this month’s edition of Rail Professional Magazine, Laura Hedley and Govia Thameslink Railway’s (GTR) Engineering Training Team share details of a pioneering initiative to embed Non-Technical Skills (NTS) training across their engineering and train presentation workforce.
The article highlights how engineering roles, while traditionally focused on technical skills, could benefit from broader team skill development. GTR recognised the value of incorporating Non-Technical Skills (NTS) training which is already well established in other roles like train driving and signalling. NTS such as communication, decision-making, and attention to detail play a vital role in ensuring safe and effective performance in high-risk environments.
In the article, Laura shares the steps taken in this project, which began with a table-top review of existing training, and an introductory NTS workshop for the trainers.
"The feedback for the introductory workshop was fantastic. Understanding how NTS influence daily operations really brought the concept to life."
John O’Shea, Engineering Training Manager
Following the introductory workshop, the GTR trainers completed the OPC’s “Train-the-Trainer” course, that equips them to deliver a tailored NTS workshop directly to their engineers.
The training is rolling out to all new starters, with plans to reach over 750 employees across five depots soon. Longer-term, GTR aims to embed NTS into every stage of the employee journey from onboarding to development, wellbeing and incident reviews.
The article also featured some OPC Assessment tools designed to help identify candidates with the key Non-Technical Skills (NTS) needed to become outstanding engineers:
- Safe Personality Questionnaire (SAFEPQ)
- Safe Concentration and Attention Test (SCAAT)
- Core Skills Mechanical Reasoning Test (CoreM)
We believe this NTS training initiative is a first in rail engineering. The article highlights the benefits of this programme and how it places GTR as a leader for safety and performance development within the rail engineering sector.
"We’re building teams who think critically, speak up, and drive safety performance every day."
Andy Richards, Head of Engineering Training at GTR
You can read the full article here.
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