Eighteen-year-olds will be allowed to drive trains after the minimum age was lowered from 20 in a bid to tackle driver shortages.
UK rail services are frequently disrupted due to a lack of drivers being available, and the problem is set to get worse with companies struggling to replace a growing number of people retiring with new recruits, the government said.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander announced the change as “bold action to improve train services and unlock thousands of jobs”.
Union Aslef said it would open up opportunities for school or college leavers, while the Rail Safety and Standards Board said its research found “18-year-olds are capable of safely becoming train drivers”.
In the UK several train companies rely on “rest day working” – when drivers voluntarily work extra shifts to run timetabled services.
But disruption can be caused to passenger journeys when there are not enough volunteers or drivers are off sick.
Some 87% of cancellations made the night before a service is scheduled to run are due to driver shortages, according to the Department for Transport (DfT).
The average age of a UK train driver is 48, with 30% set to reach retirement age by 2029, it said.
Fewer than 9% of train drivers are female, while under 12% are from an ethnic minority.
A consultation on lowering the minimum age for drivers carried out last year by the then Conservative government received “overwhelming support from across the industry”, the DfT said.
Training to become a driver of mainline trains generally takes between one and two years. The DfT believes new job and apprenticeships for 18-year-olds could become available as early as December.
Alexander said the Labour government was “committed to getting the economy moving and a big part of that is getting young people into the workforce, putting them on track for a skilled and fulfilling career which will boost growth across the country”.
Mick Whelan, general secretary of train drivers’ union Aslef, said the industry currently missed out on young people wanting to become train drivers “as they don’t wait around until they turn 20 to find a career”.
He added the new policy would “increase diversity in the driver’s cab” and also encourage more young people to take on the role.
The minimum age for train drivers has already been lowered in France, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland, the government said
Transport for London opened up its train driver apprenticeships on the underground to 18-year-olds in 2007.