Year in Industry Student Review

Item: Year in Industry Student at Network Rail
Rating: 3.8
Author: Anonymous

at Network Rail

Internship (1 Month+)

Electronic and Electrical Engineering

Milton Keynes

Review Submitted: August 2026

Overall Rating

3.8 /5

The Overall Rating is the average of all the ratings given in each category. We take those individual ratings and combine them into one final score!

4/5 - Overview of Role

4/5 - Skills Development

3.5/5 - Support and Guidance

3.5/5 - Company Culture

4/5 - Overall Experience

4/5 - Future Career Prospects

Overview of Role

Please give an overview of your role and what this involves on a day-to-day basis.

My role was in the level crossing TA team. My role involved a reliability analysis of a level crossing asset, reviewing the misuse of level crossing and suggesting mitigations to reduce misuse and supporting reviews of standards and small research tasks. I had also supported work experience students, hosting them as well as making material that can be used for the work experience students. I was also involved with monthly team meeting listening to progress or new technology team members where involved with and giving my thoughts on it.

Were you given much responsibility during your placement / internship?

I was given a fair amount of responsibility. I was the lead for the reliability analysis if the asset, with support from members in the reliability team and level crossing team of I had any questions or was stuck on what to do. Generally it felt like I was trusted with the work that was handed to me with periodic check ups to ensure that I was on the right path.

Please rate how meaningful the work you were doing was

4/5

Skills Development

Have you learnt any new skills, or developed your existing skills?

I have improved my data analysis skills, analysis skills and report writing skills, taking care to ensure that data I have created is clear to the audience and that they are able to understand it. I have also improved my soft skills such as communication, critical thinking and resilience to tasks.

How would you rate the training provided during your experience?

3/5

How would you rate your development of industry-specific skills during the experience?

4/5

How would you rate your development of personal / soft skills during the experience?

4/5

Please rate how these skills have helped you in your career development

5/5

Support and Guidance

How much support and guidance did you receive during your placement / internship?

I was given guidance when I had asked for support from team members as well as managers. Team members were open to supporting me when I was stuck with anything or was unsure of something.

How would you rate the support and guidance from your line manager?

3/5

How would you rate the support and guidance from the wider team?

4/5

Company Culture

What was the company culture and general atmosphere like?

The general atmosphere was kind and open, some people on the team were a bit intimidating to talk to, mainly from how busy people are within the team. It appeared most people within the team had a good work life balance. Social opportunities within the company were poor, the most that would happen would be lunch, as well as many members working remotely.

How would you rate the inclusiveness of the culture?

4/5

How would you rate the social opportunities?

2/5

How would you rate the diversity initiatives?

4/5

How would you rate the charity, sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives?

4/5

Overall Experience

To what extent did you enjoy your placement / internship?

I did enjoy my placement quite a lot. I found I have learnt as well as improved a lot of my skills such as soft skills and data skills. I have also found the office work environment to be less intimidating as time goes on. The work I have found has also improved the understanding of an level crossing team which I think the team is appreciative of.

Please rate your level of enjoyment on your placement / internship

4/5

Please rate how your experience met your expectations

4/5

Recommendations & Advice

Would you recommend Network Rail to a friend?

Yes

What advice would you give to others applying to Network Rail

I would recommend keeping the commute no more than an hour or have a good environment to work remotely. I would also say to keep an open mind when interacting with other teams as there may be opportunities in there that may not relate to the degree but will improve your general work skills. Also to take the opportunity to visit sites and to perhaps do short placements in different areas of the industry if the opportunity presents itself.