Railway’s Operations Management Graduate Scheme

Our 18 month Operations Management graduate scheme will give you the tools, and experience to kickstart your career at Network Rail.

The scheme is focused and centred around developing your knowledge, experience, and ability in all aspects of railway operations alongside improving your awareness of the impact your decisions will have on our passenger and freight users.

Explore our relationships with train and freight companies, the British Transport Police and the emergency services to understand what goes into delivering a great service to our passengers and freight operators.

Railway’s Operations Management Graduate Scheme

Locations:Basingstoke RG21, Birmingham B1, Bristol BS1, Cardiff CF10, Chester CH1, Edinburgh EH1, Edinburgh EH12, Exeter EX4, Glasgow G14, Glasgow G21, London E20, London EC4V, London NW1, Manchester M1, Manchester M11, Perth PH2, Reading RG1, Wigan WN1, York YO26

Salary:£32,000 plus a £2,000 welcome bonus

Start date:September 2026

What you’ll be doing

You’ll experience placements and projects across the industry to gain a perspective of the challenges faced by the railway system as we work together to deliver the very best customer experience.

Your graduate scheme will facilitate learning experiences and placements across all areas including operational business roles, experience in a wide variety of operational locations, formal training, and we encourage you to get involved in a wide variety of work as develop your knowledge, experience and ability in the field of railway operations.

Throughout your scheme, you will be exposed to a wide variety of placements and activities across operations.  During these placements you will learn all about what it takes to deliver a high performing operational railway, including stations, signalling, control and incident response.

We will also enrol you on Signaller Training over the course of the scheme to give you a grounding in Railway operational rules and principles.

Who you are matters

You’ll need to have at least a 2:2 in any degree subject, and the flexibility to occasionally travel to attend training opportunities at various locations. You must also be willing to embrace the responsibility that safety-critical work brings.

Railway operations happen 24/7 and at times you’ll be working weekends, bank holidays and shifts, so you’ll need a degree of flexibility. You’ll also be happy travelling and staying away from home for periods of time for work.

We look for diverse and logical thinkers who can find creative solutions to challenging problems. You should be resourceful, hardworking, good at managing your time and motivating yourself. It is essential that you have great communication skills, are able to engage with people at all levels and be good at building relationships with your peers and colleagues.

What you’ll get out of it

You will study for a Level 4 Apprenticeship in Passenger Transport Operations Management using CIRO’s Professional Operations Development programme. This provides a systems thinking approach to understanding the railway. You will also complete a CMI Level 5 unit in Project Management during the scheme.

After your graduate scheme, you will continue to be supported by your colleagues and mentors as you transition into your first appointment, where you will continue with the next step on your professional development journey.