The NSAR Rail Workforce Survey is an annual comprehensive survey of rail industry professionals.
Each year, railway organisations across the industry contribute by submitting their workforce data on demographics, job roles and work locations. The survey helps NSAR build the most complete and accurate representation of the UK rail workforce.
We are pleased to share the results of the 2025 survey with you. By making the survey findings accessible, NSAR aims to enable organisations to benchmark themselves to the industry and better plan for the future. We are happy to do a more detailed workforce analysis and industry benchmarking for interested organisations – don’t hesitate to contact us.
The headline findings are that skills shortages remain a major issue for the rail industry. This is despite the workforce stabilising, with an increase of by 0.6% over the last year. The number of people leaving through retirement and other forms of attrition could still be up to 70,000 workers by 2030. While proportions are improving, rail remains a male-dominated industry with lower numbers of people from ethnic minority backgrounds than national averages.
Addressing skills shortages and improving diversity provides large economic and social value opportunities. The report models these figures and provides recommendations to support the industry in achieving its goals.
Key insights from the 2025 survey:
- The workforce in rail has increased over the last year by 0.6% to 221,788, predominantly in the supply chain.
- The workforce is slightly younger this year than last (the average age of the workforce has decreased from 44.1 years old in 2024 to 43.5 years old currently).
- The proportion of workers aged 25 and under has increased from 6.3% in 2024 to 6.8% in 2025. This represents an increase of 7.9% year on year.
- A third of our workforce is still aged 50 years old or over.
- We are facing a critical loss of experience and knowledge in the next seven years (the number of people leaving through retirement and other forms of attrition could be 70,000 workers by 2030).
- We remain a male-dominated industry (although gender diversity has increased to 18.9% in 2025, up from 17.4% in 2024).
- The proportion of workers in UK rail who are from an Ethnic Minority Group (EMG) has risen from 14.4% to 15.2%, representing an increase of 5.6% year on year.Â
Thank you to the organisations that provided us with workforce demographic information. Your input is invaluable in helping NSAR to help the industry understand where current and future workforce gaps are and develop strategic workforce plans to ensure a pipeline of skilled employees is available.
We hope the NSAR Rail Workforce Survey 2025 findings prove useful to your organisation and look forward to working with you as we collectively address skills shortages in the rail industry.