202503 – Turner – Growing Graduates in the Sun: 30 Years of Signalling Graduate Development in Queensland Rail

This paper reflects on 30 years of graduate development programs in Queensland Rail to identify what recruitment strategies, development approaches, lessons learnt and keys to success are needed to develop specialists in this industry in a timeframe that meets the growing demand.

The experiences of current and former Queensland Rail graduate signal engineers are studied to understand approaches taken, successes, failures and career outcomes. Reflections of recent experience are provided through the author drawing on his experience in the management of these programs over the last four years. Key areas covered include:
– Technical development rotational placements, rotation length, the level of tailoring for individuals, and the ‘basics’ of making rotations effective for ‘on-the-job’ learning.
– The benefits, challenges and lessons learnt from multi-discipline graduate recruitment, and development.
– What and how effective tools and courses have been used to supplement the rotational programs.

Conclusions are drawn for how the lessons learnt and feedback from the study will be incorporated into the next signal engineering graduate intake and how others in the industry can apply the lessons learnt by Queensland Rail.