Pros
Network Rail is a big company. There's lots of room to grow, there's lots of roles to take on any countless directions with some excellent training and development opportunities. There are some great people working for this company, who have a real passion for change.
Cons
Other than the incredibly sterile office environment (which was nice before Covid). There's a lot of incompetence, inefficiency and entitlement. The company is chock full of old timers who will not break free of old habits. They're arrogant and think of themselves as know-it-alls, when in reality, they have power over one small aspect of a very big organisation. NR prefers experience over someone's ability to communicate or willingness to work in a team. Therefore you're often left with individuals in a company who are incredibly difficult to work with, but only there because they've been doing the job for years - when in reality, anyone could do the half as well, but communicate and cooperate would be much more effective in a role. It's universally accepted as part of the culture that there's these grumpy senior leaders say what goes and, even when they stand in the way of progress. The best way to rise in NR is to not be a woman and not be young, my sincere commendations to anyone who is both and manages to reach upper management.