Apprentices build siding in Leer
Our branch in Leer had acquired the railway track to which our company premises are connected. As it had not been used for a long time, it was in a dismal condition and could hardly be travelled on safely. SPITZKE’s civil engineering and track-laying apprentices carried out the fundamental restoration of the siding independently and gained important practical work experience in the process.
In August, our new apprentices started their training in Leer and were immediately assigned their first project of their own. They completed the work on the siding together with the apprentices from the older cohorts and those from the Kaltenkirchen branch.
The project was overseen by a track-laying foreman and our Training Officer, who gave the new apprentices in-depth instruction on how to use machines like vibrating tampers, rail flexes, impact wrenches, heat pipes or transfer jacks. They removed the old wooden sleepers, installed 600 concrete sleepers from our manufacturing subsidiary SPITZKE FAHRWEGSYSTEME GmbH, cleaned the ballast and replaced almost 600 t of ballast. They also renovated the switching trestles and points lanterns. The Leer junior staff were supported by their colleagues from the Kaltenkirchen branch. The young professionals worked very independently, planned their daily tasks themselves and motivated each other when it was time for the next change of work position.
The result is not only the new siding on the operating track for our Leer branch, but also the experience gained from a “real” railway infrastructure project and the enormous team spirit among our civil engineering and track construction apprentices. “Everyone got on really well and the teamwork was great. That was also due to the introductory week at our company headquarters in Großbeeren, where everyone got to know each other. During these two weeks, the team spirit grew even stronger”, explains our Training Coordinator.
This apprentice project was a model for successful collaboration between the different sites. The cross-site concept for managing training shows how training is stronger when carried out across the entire group of companies and how our different branches carry out cross-site projects.
