Our research found that 85 per cent of women of working age in the UK have never considered a career in rail, and that the primary reason for this is a perceived lack of a match between their skills and jobs in the sector. Six out of 10 women said the industry is not relevant to their skills or expertise, and more than half (52 per cent) said that they would be more attracted to applying for roles if they were aware of the competitive salary rate and benefits on offer.

LNER bucks the trend with women making up 42 per cent of our workforce, compared to an industry average of 16 per cent, and half of our Executive Board is female.

Responding to this new research, our People Director Karen Lewis has said that the industry needs to work harder to promote itself to women, who are missing out on a rich source of career opportunities.

Our diverse workforce is something we’re extremely proud of at LNER and we’re working hard to inspire and attract even more talented women to join the industry, including raising awareness of the huge range opportunities in rail fuelled by the roll out of new technologies, new fleets and big, new projects. This means roles as wide ranging as engineers, drivers, digital innovators, travel advisers, business analysts, dispatchers, chefs, legal and finance managers are all critical for delivering services up and down the East Coast.

To celebrate International Women’s Day 2020, we have – for the month of March – rebranded our iconic ‘Flying Scotsman’ service between Edinburgh and London King’s Cross as the ‘Flying Scotswoman’ – and today’s Flying Scotswoman service was staffed entirely by women.

I hope you found this of interest. Please follow and share the story on twitter @LNER #IWD2020