Formative Assessment 1: Railway Industry Analysis and Career Prospects

This report provides an analysis of the railway industry, focusing on West Midlands Trains and the broader UK market. It examines key trends such as mergers and acquisitions, digitalization, cyber security, and the impact of Brexit. The report highlights career prospects within the industry, particularly the role of Head of Training & Development (T&D), and outlines essential skills including technical proficiency, problem-solving abilities, and decision-making capabilities. It references relevant academic sources to support its findings and offers insights into navigating the evolving landscape of the railway sector and advancing one's career within it. This report is a formative assessment designed to explore industry dynamics and career progression.

Formative assessment
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Table of Contents
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6
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Railway industry
Westmidlands trains is a train operating company that operate trains between London and
midlands. It is a UK based company which comes under railway industry. The industry is
growing rapidly in UK with its expansion in rural areas as well. So, there are many opportunity
of growth in it. also, many companies are operating in this sector. Thus, there are several job
roles emerging in it. the role which I want to apply is head of T&D in midlands who will
provide training to assistants and other people. Also, to develop plans of training (Borndörfer,
and et.al., 2018).
Trends within industry
In this sector there are various trends which is emerging. These trends is shaping and
transforming it. so, they are described as below :
Increase in M&A- it is a trend which that has emerged in it. now, government is trying to merge
with private sector or there are other firms who are buying stake in it. hence, it is evaluated that
rise in such M&A rail industry there are high chance of innovation in it. besides that, it has led to
integration of supply chain, optimization of resources, etc.
Digitalization- technology is highly used in rail industry. The use of IOT, AI, AR, etc. has
resulted in improving quality of service and reducing cost. Besides that, focus is on improving
customer experience and transforming entire process online.
Cyber security- this trend emphasis on increasing use of digital tools in maintaining security and
privacy of data. it has led to change in security protocols and regular updating of it. thus, it has
led to reducing malicious attacks on data and info.
Brexit impact – it will have a negative impact on this sector as overall infrastructure needs to
be changed. The forming of new policy or laws in supply chain integration, booking, etc. will be
modified (Gao and et.al., 2016).
Career prospects
There is high career growth in this sector. By becoming head of T&D more opportunity is
manager, GM, MD, of T&D. but it require experience and high knowledge for it. also, in future
career prospects is becoming HOD or regional manager within company.
Skills required in it
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There are varied skills required in order to sustain in industry and grab opportunity. It is
defined as below
Technical skills- this is emerging skill required in it. here, individual must have knowledge
about various types of software and application and how it is used. Besides that, he or she
should be aware about advance software that are used in it. this will enable in working with
technology.
Problem solving skill- it is necessary skill required in it so that problems are effectively solved.
The individual must be capable enough to analyse problem and solve them. He or she should
know about process of dealing with different types of problems. It will enable in
Decision making skill- this is crucial skill required in railway sector. Here, individual must be
experienced enough to take effective decisions and on time. Alongside, decision has to be
evaluated on certain criteria as well (Niu and et.al., 2020).
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Borndörfer, R. and et.al., 2018. Handbook of Optimization in the Railway Industry (Vol. 268).
Springer.
Gao, M., and et.al., 2016. Design and verification of a rail-borne energy harvester for powering
wireless sensor networks in the railway industry. IEEE Transactions on Intelligent
Transportation Systems, 18(6), pp.1596-1609.
Niu, Y., and et.al., 2020. Hexagonal Diamond Model for International Competitive Advantages
of High-Speed Railway Industry. Journal of Management in Engineering, 36(2),
p.04020001.
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