Ihor Palenyk (group UZ-31sp) and Antonina Kopaieva (group UZ-41), students of the Department of Transport Technologies, the Institute of Mechanical Engineering and Transport, Lviv Polytechnic National University, took part in the student project «Successful Career Start with Railway Changers», which was developed within the framework of the industry project «Successful Start of Your Career» under the guidance of Yulia Hermaniuk, Associate Professor at the Department of Transport Technologies. The final stage of the project took place in Kyiv on the eve of the Railway Workers’ Day with the support of JSC Ukrzaliznytsia and the Youth Council of the Trade Union of Railway and Transport Builders of Ukraine.
On the first day of the event, students of Ukrainian higher education institutions presented their work to the Youth Council commission and participants. After a successful project defence, they were organised a trip to the Kyiv Children’s Railway, during which they visited the Kyiv-Pasazhyrskyi Children’s station, where they were conducted a tour to the Railway Transport Museum. The students learnt how the younger generation of railway workers are trained and about the importance of educating future industry professionals. After that, the participants travelled to Zaliznychna station by the Stolychnyi Express train and visited the exhibition of the narrow-gauge rolling stock.
Antonina Kopaieva, a fourth-year student and master of industrial training at the Lviv Children’s Railway, said: «It is great to see my colleagues and many generations of children behind them. We are fulfilling an important mission – we are bringing together future professionals who will contribute to the development of the railway in Ukraine».
The next day, the project was summed up at the central railway station. Welcome speeches were delivered by Oleksandr Pertsovskyi, Chairman of the Board of JSC Ukrzaliznytsia, representatives of the Professional Development Centre of Ukrzaliznytsia, the Youth Council and the project participants. The organisers awarded prize certificates for the ideas implementation to four participants, including students of Lviv Polytechnic National University.
Ihor Palenyk shared his impressions: «We are a new generation of railway workers who want to develop and improve the railway. We want to be a part of this big family and work for the future of the railway with decent working conditions where people are the main value».
The participants, guests and the Chairman of the Board of JSC Ukrzaliznytsia also signed the flag of Ukraine in support of our defenders, the railwaymen of the 152nd brigade in the Pokrovsk region, and observed a minute of silence in memory of the fallen heroes.
At the end of the program there was an interactive exhibition of railway modelling IronLab, where students had the opportunity to communicate with the organisers and designers of the rolling stock, learn about the principles of train traffic management, layout design and innovative modelling technologies.
Associate Professor Yulia Hermaniuk noted that Oleksandr Pertsovskyi, Chairman of the Board of JSC Ukrzaliznytsia, announced the launch of a large-scale program to attract young people to the railway industry: «An online platform for selecting talented students interested in the railway sector will be launched in November. We will select the first 100 «Railway Ambassadors» who will get the opportunity to do internships, participate in trips, meetings, competitions and grants to implement their own initiatives. We want to attract strong and motivated people to develop Ukrzaliznytsia together and move the country forward!»
Yulia Hermaniuk added: «We are confident that such initiatives will further contribute to the training of highly qualified specialists in the railway industry. We dream of continuing this work by creating a laboratory at our Department, which will provide students with modern resources for learning and improving their practical skills. We hope that such ideas will be supported by the management of Ukrzaliznytsia so that future specialists can gain more knowledge and experience!»
«We had a great time these two days in Kyiv, discovered a lot of new things, met colleagues from other educational institutions and gained new experience. Now we will move on and work on the implementation of our project», summed up students Ihor Palenyk and Antonina Kopaieva.
