Frequently asked questions

What is Rollingstock training and development?

We are a small but highly respected business offering technical, specialist, competency-based training across all aspects of freight rolling stock.

What is the difference between your courses and OEM courses?

The OEM courses for ECP are good but narrow in application, focusing mainly on wagon testing. Our courses focus on effective fault identification, building fault-finding and decision-making skills, cost-effective maintenance and reliability practices and fostering strong attitudes to safety, maintenance, and reliability. In courses such as re-railing and train support, the modules introduce risk assessment practices and safe work processes.

Our courses will also be tailored to fit your existing processes and procedures, or our well-developed ones.

What kind of qualification does a trainee get?

A certificate of completion of the course is issued. This will contain the learning outcomes and assessment to competency-based training and assessment standards.

If required, this can be used for Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) for that subject, where it aligns with nationally recognised training modules for a course.

How flexible can you be with course content and instruction?

Making changes to a set course to suit a client's individual needs is generally not a problem.

The trainer is the subject-matter expert and the course developer, and can adjust the training as necessary. We can also custom-develop courses for your trainers.

How do you cater for different skill and experience levels?

Each course starts with a short, structured discussion that helps the trainer gauge participants' experience and skill level. We use this to tailor each course to support less experienced participants while challenging those with more expertise in a team training environment.

While some qualification levels apply- for example, statutory requirements such as a qualified electrician conducting HiPot testing on cables- we also have regularly trained mechanical maintenance staff and electrical staff, with both groups cross-learning.

Our courses are designed and presented to be interactive and inclusive. In a team environment, more experienced trainees can often help coach less experienced individuals while learning themselves.

What do you need to run a course on site?

The course plan details the course requirements. Usually, a training room with basic projection equipment and a whiteboard is sufficient.

Site training requires secure access to the relevant equipment in a secure area. We would normally utilise course participants to provide protection and will normally use a mix of local and, where relevant, our detailed Safe Work Method Statements and general site hazard assessments.

Can you align training to our asset classes and procedures?

It's what we do.

While the fundamental outcomes and course structure stay the same, we will integrate any specifics of your fleet. For example, ECP locomotive fault finding will work with your particular locomotives' schematics.

How does your training work?

We will provide a course program plan and detailed learning outcomes that are fully competency-assessed. When you are satisfied with the program, we will provide a quote and expected course length.

We have condensed most courses to 2 to 3 days. We find this is enough for most participants to absorb, while leaving them with enough competency and information to apply and build on what they have learnt.

Longer courses, such as wagon maintenance and air brakes, can be broken into segments and modules for more on-the-job learning or shorter, specific sessions. For example, wheelset inspection and maintenance is often used as a stand-alone module and can integrate, if required, a unit we have for basic measuring and use of measuring instruments.

Last-minute changes or rostering issues can and do arise, and we will always strive to work around these. Similarly, with courses such as re-railing, delays can be experienced that are out of our hands - protection, shunting, wet weather, equipment problems, etc. and some contingency is built into these courses.

How much does it cost?

We cost substantially less than RTOs and OEMs because we don't have large overheads, and our costs aren't subject to large markups or set-course pricing.

You get a professionally developed course to Australian standards, run by a highly qualified and experienced trainer, without the considerable costs of presenting a course as an RTO.

Is training job-ready or mostly theory?

The training balances theory and practical components. Courses build knowledge and understanding first, then apply it to your rolling stock.

The end result is a job-ready trainee.

What business outcomes should the training provide?

Our courses are based on reliability-centred maintenance principles. Safety, reliability, and cost-effectiveness are integral to our training.

We teach structured diagnostic approaches and provide detailed fault recognition and diagnostic guides, along with efficient, effective testing and inspection processes.

The result is a safer, more reliable train, less inspection and repair time, and the ability to identify developing faults and fix them in the shop before they become an on-train problem.

Is there any benefit to using a non-RTO training organisation?

While all courses follow the quality requirements for courses laid out by the Australian Qualifications Framework, writing and training in the subjects we offer as an RTO would require considerable cost for little benefit - even if the RTO had the levels of expertise and experience necessary to put them together.

An RTO would have to follow the TLI29921 Certificate II in Rolling Stock Maintenance, which, while specifying generic maintenance modules, does not go into the specifics of maintenance activities or how items work, are maintained, and are fault diagnosed.

Our training, however, is assessed to the same standards as part of the learning experience and can be used as part of a Recognition of Prior Learning application where relevant.