Essentially, the job is the same on both sides.
But especially in the past 5 years, I’ve been at the forefront of exciting technology, including breakthroughs
such as the Oyster card and contact-less readers - which has been thrilling. I’m a maintenance man through and
through - and it’s good to use my skills and experience to make a positive contribution to the way people travel.
Mark Wilkins - Maintenance Team Leader
I’ve been a gate maintenance engineer in the rail industry for
25 years - mostly for London Underground, but I’ve spent the
past 8 years at Cubic. So, you could say I’ve seen the industry
from both sides of the track.
I manage a Preventative Maintenance team of 11 engineers – split
into 3 teams – which cover most gates in tube and railway stations
inside the M25 Boundary. Each team has an assignment of stations,
which they proactively service for potential faults.
The most challenging part is keeping the teams motivated - by its very
nature, preventative maintenance can be repetitive and mundane.
And working in stations late at night requires a bit of physical
robustness! It’s invariably cold, and tired commuters sometimes step us
on – in fact, the going can get quite tough. But we’re a strong team,
and working the night shifts really bonds us together.
My shift always starts at Park Royal in North West London, where the teams arrive to discuss the night’s work.
I catch up with paperwork and emails, and generally check all is well with my team, before we all head out
to our home stations.
Typically, each engineer services between 5 and 6 devices per shift. Periodically, the team meets up
at an assigned station to carry out an ‘en masse’ device service, which also gives us the opportunity
to discuss any issues that as a team we need to be aware of.