V/Line Careers ~ Reliability and Maintenance Engineer

Adi Miftari, Reliability and Maintenance Engineer

I’ve been with V/Line for over five years. I joined the team as an Assistant Fleet Engineer. I saw it advertised and I’d just finished my engineering degree.

I was looking for a job where I could balance my technical skills with the aim of one day moving into a management position.

My role was initially focussed on understanding the technical details of V/Line’s rail fleet. The key focus was to document some intricate procedures for the maintenance of the trains, so that our maintenance team could tailor their skills specifically to our operation. From almost my first day, I was working with multi-million dollar pieces of machinery, which was a great way to learn.

One of the great things about V/Line has been the opportunities I’ve had. In my second year I was given my own project, which was the introduction of power-operated doors across V/Line’s N-Set carriage fleet. It was worth over $6 million and a major safety improvement. It was amazing to be working on such a big project so early in my career.

In 2008, I was promoted to the Reliability and Maintenance Engineering position. A key part of this role includes spending time in and around the fleet of 40 VLocity trains, managing the brake-testing program and getting a better knowledge of the vehicle. It’s an awesome opportunity to work on this train because millions of people use these each year. It’s a great feeling knowing that my job is important to ensuring these trains continue to serve so many people. I hadn’t planned on this sort of stuff when I was at uni.

V/Line is really looking after me when it comes to career development. Last year I started a Masters of Rolling Stock Engineering at the University of Wollongong to increase my technical knowledge. To know that V/Line’s willing to support me to achieve a masters degree is a great example of how they’ve given me fantastic opportunities for growth.

Reliability and Maintenance Engineer

Main duties: Maintenance of trains and finding ways to improve the reliability of trains.

Minimum qualifications: Degree in mechanical or electrical engineering.

Your skills: Project management, communication and problem solving.

Job benefits: Work outdoors, challenges, satisfaction.

V/Line training: Ongoing training to become a rollingstock engineer.

Job locations: Based in Melbourne.