Walking into London Transport Museum’s learning space, you’re instantly met with the energy only a room full of 8-year-olds can create. Wide-eyed questions, excited chatter, and, in this case, mini trains coded to zoom through imaginary cities. It’s all part of Coding the Capital, a creative and challenging workshop where young minds become engineers for the day.

Hitachi Rail has been part of this experience for several years now, and it never fails to remind me why I chose to join this industry. We’re not just building trains, we’re building futures.

Enjoyment to Employment: Turning Curiosity into Careers

Coding the Capital is part of London Transport Museum’s wider Enjoyment to Employment programme, which addresses the engineering and green skills gap in our industry by starting early, really early.

Through hands-on workshops like this, the programme sparks children’s natural curiosity and turns it into confidence, creativity, and  awareness, inspiring and supporting them to pursue careers in the transport sector and beyond. As a partner of the programme, Hitachi Rail is proud to help provide access to moments like these for over 150,000 young people and families each year.

The most powerful part? Volunteers. As STEM Ambassadors, we’re not just explaining how trains work; we’re showing students that the people behind the technology look just like them. Sometimes, all it takes is one conversation to help a young person envision a future they hadn’t considered.

What the Day Looked Like: Big Thinking in Small Hands

The children worked in teams using Intelino smart train kits to solve city-sized challenges, optimising routes, managing signals, and even tackling environmental issues. Some teams recreated the flow of the Jubilee line; others designed fully sustainable cities.

My favourite part? The questions.

“How many engines does a train have?”
“What if both engines break?”
“How fast is the fastest train?”
“What if nobody notices the train breaks?”

These are the kinds of questions that show how kids are already thinking like systems engineers. And with the help of my teammates Trevor, Matthew, Rhuairi, and Taija, who brought warmth, humour, and serious engineering and business insight, we were able to guide those questions into lightbulb moments.

A Railway Built for the Next 200 Years

This workshop may appear to be play, but it’s rooted in something much bigger. As we mark 200 years of railway history in the UK, Coding the Capital is part of a national effort to connect past industry achievements with future ambition.

At Hitachi Rail, we’ve always believed that progress means blending heritage with innovation. Just last year, our engineers equipped a 1940s steam locomotive with cutting-edge digital signalling. A world first and a reminder that no matter how old the engine, there’s always room for new thinking.

Watching students troubleshoot buggy code, debate train routes, and redesign cities in real time, I saw that same spirit in the room: curiosity, collaboration, and a readiness to tackle tomorrow’s challenges head-on.

Beyond the Museum: Where We Go Next

This October, we’ll continue the Railway200 celebration with an Open Day at our Newton Aycliffe factory in the Northeast. Students and families will be able to tour real trains in build, see the Railway200 exhibition train, and try out even more STEM challenges.

For us at Hitachi Rail, this isn’t a one-off. It’s part of an ongoing effort to build a digitally enabled, inclusive workforce for the decades ahead. Whether it’s through digital apprenticeships or our STEM Ambassador programme, we know early engagement can have a lifelong impact.

Every time I join a Coding the Capital session, I leave inspired. Not just by what the students learn, but by what they teach us. They remind us to stay curious, to problem-solve boldly, and to keep building a railway and a future that works for everyone.

If you’re reading this as a colleague, please consider signing up as a STEM Ambassador. If you’re a parent or teacher, bring your young people to Newton Aycliffe in October.

If you’re a student, we can’t wait to see what you build next, and for any companies looking to support your social impact objectives, please consider joining the Enjoyment to Employment coalition using the contact form at the bottom of this page HERE.