Army for Amey

Amey Rail is to start recruiting army leavers to tackle the shortage of skilled signals and telecomms engineers in the rail sector.

It has set up a deal with consultancy McGinley Recruitment which could see as many as 100 leavers from the Royal Signals Corps joining Amey Rail each year. The first placements are likely to be made in January.

Amey had tasked McGinley earlier in the year with the job of finding a long-term source of signals and telecoms engineers for its rail operations. McGinley chairman Dermot McGinley subsequently contacted the Ministry of Defence's Career Transition Partnership to look at whether any of the 15,000 who leave the armed forces each year would be suitable. Together, they identified the Royal Signals Corps as a likely source.

David Collins, Amey Rail's signal and telecommunications engineer, said: "The skills acquired in the Royal Signals are directly transferrable to the rail environment. Although the equipment is different, the nature of the work - installation, testing, commissioning, maintenance and fault-finding of electrical equipment - is the same."

McGinley believes he could place as many as 100 of the 800 who leave the Royal Signals Corps each year with Amey Rail, but he has not ruled out placing some of the leavers with other rail maintenance contractors.