Alyssa McSwiggan
2026 Saltire Scholar
Quality Assurance and Improvement intern, Network Rail
Environmental Geography, University of Stirling
Hey, I'm Alyssa, I’m currently going into my final year at the University of Stirling and over the summer I’ve worked at Network Rail as a Quality Assurance and Improvement intern.
I’m entering my 4th year of studies for Environmental Geography and back in March, I found out I'd be working for Network Rail through Saltire Scholars. I was going to be in the Quality Assurance and Improvement Department for 10 weeks. At the time I had no idea what the role was or how I would fit into the railway. This summer has shown me the wide variety of jobs available to all degrees across Network Rail and in the railway itself.
Network Rail is the organisation responsible for maintaining and developing Britain's railway infrastructure. From tracks and signals to major stations and upgrade projects, it plays a vital role in keeping passengers and freight moving safely and efficiently. During my summer placement, I gained an insight into how this extensive network is managed and the people who work together to deliver a safe, reliable railway every day.
Onboarding
Going into it I had no idea what to expect. Before the internship started, I created a WhatsApp chat with the rest of the interns and luckily, they were all just as nervous as me! My first week was amazing, we had a great introduction from the Network Rail’s early careers team and even got a talk from NR’s Executive Liam Sumpter. After the onboarding days, my team jumped right into to my project.
My Role and Project
The Quality Assurance and Improvement team focuses on ensuring that processes and activities are carried out to the required standards while identifying opportunities for continuous improvement. The team's work supports safety, efficiency, and performance across the organisation by reviewing processes, analysing data, and encouraging best practice.
I was tasked with creating a Power Bi dashboard for them so they could track actions and closures with ease. This was a software I had never used before, but my team provided amazing resources for me to develop fast skills. Over the course of my 10 weeks the project helped improve my coding, as well as my time management and communication skills. I had to communicate between the engineering, risk and quality teams to ensure a useful and adaptable Power Bi was made.
At the end of my placement my dashboard was huge, incorporating lots of different teams’ data and with weekly updates. I never imagined the project to get this large and it was an amazing feeling knowing I’d made a difference during my placement.
Intern Days Out
The events Network Rail put on for us were amazing! We saw a range of careers in the railway ranging from signalling to ScotRail. My favourite event was the central station tour where we saw abandoned platforms and learned about the railway’s history.
Halfway through the internship me and some of the other interns hosted a bake sale to help give back to the Saltire Scholars. The 8 of us ended up raising £420! It was a great was to meet our targets and eat some lovely cakes. I formed friends for life with the other interns at Network Rail. We ate lunch together every day, played tennis at the weekends, had dinners after work and even spent a day together at Go Ape!
Other projects
I wasn’t limited to just working for my department, my team encouraged me to spend days in different sectors of the railway industry. I spent a few days with the Weather Resilience and Climate Change Adaptation team, using my skills from university to produce GIS maps, investigate landslides and identify areas climate change may affect. I also went on days out with the Geotechnical team where we looked at drainage works, failures and even helped me look at projects for my geology based dissertation!
Takeaways
I’d highly recommend Network Rail to everyone. The friends and skills I’ve obtained will stick with me for life and it has made me excited for life after university. None of this would have been possible without the Saltire Scholars team and I’m so grateful for this opportunity!
