Network Rail (www.networkrail.co.uk) is set to take on up to 150 advanced apprentices, who will initially undertake a training programme that entails spending 21 weeks living and learning at the Network Rail training facilities at Westwood in Coventry before moving to a depot closer to home.

The apprenticeships are open to anybody nation-wide, and the pay in year one is £9,479 — plus a further £1,265 for successfully completing the scheme.

Apprentice wages go up in the second year, based on age, with 18- to 20-year-olds earning £12,525 and 21- to 24-year-olds earning £13,431. Anyone aged 25 and older will earn £14,250 in the second year of the programme.

In the third and final year of the advanced apprenticeship, trainees will earn £14,924 for being on the programme.

Apprentices can specialise in electrification, overhead lines, signalling, telecoms, track or off-track, and the scheme is open to anyone who will be 18 before September 29 (there is no upper age limit). Entry qualifications are a minimum of four GCSEs (at A*-C), including Maths, English and a Science or engineering subject.

Network Rail is responsible for 20,000 miles of track, 40,000 bridges and viaducts, and thousands of signals and level crossings.