FEWER than two in every 10 rail industry employees are female, according to a comprehensive new survey into gender diversity across the sector.

Men overwhelmingly dominate engineering, manufacturing, supply and train driver roles, with women occupying only 16.4 per cent of jobs across the entire rail industry in the UK.

There is no specific breakdown for Scotland, but it is likely to compare poorly against other areas which have already been criticised for their lack of female representation, such as boardrooms and top university jobs.

Just under 22 per cent of professors at Scottish universities are women, while a quarter of board positions at Scottish-based FTSE 100 companies are held by women.

Britain as a whole has the lowest percentage of women engineers in Europe, at just six per cent, the same percentage as in 1919 - nearly a decade before women were granted the right to vote. But for the rail industry, the share of female engineers is even smaller at just four per cent.

The pattern is similar for drivers. Only 4.2 per cent of all train drivers are women, including just 33 female freight train drivers in the whole of the UK - equivalent to 1.4 per cent.

Women in Rail, the group which compiled the results, said action was urgently needed to level the gender balance in the rail industry.

Adeline Ginn, founder of Women in Rail, said: “For the first time, we have an actionable benchmark upon which companies can identify and target the key areas for change. It is extremely important that the rail industry confronts this gender imbalance, as a first step towards changing it for the better. These changes will need to happen within the rail industry, as well as outside, to encourage women to follow career paths that lead to rail, such as engineering from a young age.”

Around two thirds (60 per cent) of women across the industry are employed in service focused roles such as catering staff, train guards, customer service and retail.

Almost 10 per cent of female rail industry employees holds middle management positions, but only 0.6 per cent have progressed to director or executive level.

The study was based on 85,723 staff from across the rail sector, excluding anyone directly employed by the Department for Transport, Network Rail or the Office for Road and Rail.

Terence Watson, co-chair of the Rail Supply Group, said: “Rail is an extremely successful sector: more and more people are using the railways and it is attracting investment. However, it is also facing a shortage of people. HS2 alone is expected to create 25,000 jobs during construction and 3000 jobs when in operation. To fill our ever growing pipeline with the best talent it will be crucial to attract more women.”

Transport Minister Claire Perry said: “I welcome this important report from Women in Rail and look forward to seeing how the industry addresses the issues it raises. The government has already started work on a transport skills strategy, to look at how we can encourage greater diversity in the workforce, including attracting more women into engineering."