{"id":263411,"date":"2025-08-07T21:01:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T11:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/railuk.com\/?p=181056"},"modified":"2025-08-07T21:01:00","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T11:01:00","slug":"daughter-follows-in-fathers-footsteps-as-latest-emr-train-drivers-graduate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=263411","title":{"rendered":"Daughter follows in father\u2019s footsteps as latest EMR Train Drivers graduate"},"content":{"rendered":"

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East Midlands Railway (EMR) has celebrated the graduation of twelve new Trainee Drivers at a special ceremony held in Derby, including a touching surprise where a long-serving father proudly handed over the symbolic Train Driver\u2019s key to his daughter.<\/p>\n

Among the new graduates was Alicia Oldham, 32, who was presented with her Train Driver\u2019s key by her father, Stuart Oldham, a seasoned Train Driver with more than 30 years of service at Nottingham.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been incredible,\u201d said Alicia. \u201cMy dad has worked on the railway for 31 years, having him here to pass me my Driver\u2019s key, as a driver Driver himself, is phenomenal. It\u2019s a moment I\u2019ll never forget.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking at the even Stuart, 57, shared his pride in Alicia\u2019s success: \u201cI\u2019m extremely proud. Alicia has worked so hard, it\u2019s a tough course, and we all knew she\u2019d get through it. She\u2019s done us all proud.\u201d<\/p>\n

The family has a long-standing connection to the railway. In addition to Alicia and Stuart, Stuart\u2019s son Curtis also works at EMR as a Technician at Eastcroft Depot in Nottingham, and Stuart\u2019s grandfather served as a Train Guard in city for over 50 years.<\/p>\n

\"IMG-20250801-WA0007<\/figure>\n

Mark Letman, Lead Operations Training Manager, said: \u201cWe often see sons following in their fathers\u2019 footsteps in the railway, so it\u2019s fantastic to see a daughter joining her father as a Train Driver.<\/p>\n

“We\u2019re incredibly proud of all our Trainee Drivers, the dedication and effort they put into their training is outstanding. It\u2019s especially encouraging to see greater diversity in our training rooms as we shape the next generation of Train Drivers.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ceremony also marked a milestone for EMR, as this graduating class is the first with a near 50:50 gender split, a significant step forward in making the rail industry more inclusive.<\/p>\n

\"Group<\/figure>\n

Kelly Mcghee, another graduate from the cohort, who will be based in Kettering, also shared her experience, she said: \u201cI spent fifteen years working in education. Now that my kids have grown up, I decided it was time for a change and applied to become a Driver. For anyone considering a career in rail, it takes a lot of dedication and hard work, but it\u2019s worth it. I\u2019ve loved the training.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re seeing a growing number of women applying for roles that have traditionally been male-dominated,\u201d said Kate Holden, HR Director at East Midlands Railway.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s fantastic to welcome so many new female Train Drivers to our team.<\/p>\n

“More and more women are recognising the railway as an exciting and rewarding career path, and we\u2019re proud to be part of that shift. We\u2019re committed to attracting the very best talent from all backgrounds, and this increase in diverse applicants reflects the inclusive culture we\u2019ve worked hard to build, one where everyone feels valued and supported.\u201d<\/p>\n

The twelve new Train Drivers officially completed their training on Friday, August 1, and will now begin the next step in their careers on the railway, helping to keep the East Midlands network moving.<\/p>\n

Image credit: EMR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>East Midlands Railway (EMR) has celebrated the graduation of twelve new Trainee Drivers at a special ceremony held in Derby, including a touching surprise where a long-serving father proudly handed over the symbolic Train Driver\u2019s key to his daughter. Among the new graduates was Alicia Oldham, 32, who was presented with her Train Driver\u2019s key [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16013,47,85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-263411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-interest","category-rail-news","category-uk"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=263411"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263411\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":263817,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263411\/revisions\/263817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=263411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=263411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=263411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}