Women's Development Programmes at TransPennine Express

The UK transport industry has traditionally attracted more men than women; according to data from the Office for National Statistics, only 22% of transport workers are women. TPE are committed to retaining and increasing the number of women at all levels and supporting them to take advantage of the wide range of career opportunities we can offer.  A key way of doing this is through development.

Step Forward

The aim of ‘Step Forward’ is a development programme designed to accelerate the readiness of women managers to apply for ‘Head of’ roles. This programme helps participants to discover their own personal work and leadership styles, improve their awareness of how impact and exposure influence success, identify and remove obstacles to performance and career cusses through building greater self-belief and more. 

Step Up

Our 'Step Up’ Programme is designed to encourage women in frontline jobs to prepare for and attain their first supervisory or line management role. Within this programme colleagues will look at what it means to be a leader, understanding their aspirations and preparing for them, preparing for a team leader role.

Women in Rail Mentoring Programme

TPE are proud to be part of the cross-industry, Women in Rail Mentoring Programme. This scheme matches mentors and mentees across rail with the aim to retain and develop diverse women within the sector, supporting them to fulfil their career potential and progress to more senior roles, thus helping shift the dial-in numbers of women at senior and executive levels across our industry. In 2023 TPE had 5 female mentors and 5 mentees take part in the programme, which lasts nine months and consists of one-on-one meetings between the mentees and mentors, access to live events, training and networking opportunities. 

Senior Women’s Development Programme

This programme is designed to accelerate the readiness of women for senior leadership roles by building advanced leadership capabilities and personal confidence over a six-month time frame. Colleagues who attend this programme are sponsored via Executive level managers who will have an active involvement with the colleagues’ line manager throughout the programme. This course looks at understanding your own personal impact and style, understanding your leadership impact, resilience, leading diverse teams and effective collaboration across functions and teams.