Anyone here a Train Driver (Operator)?

long hours alone needing constant alertness and attention is why the pay is decent.

cant just chill out for a moment like in many other jobs. not even for a minute
 
smokedog said:
£35k isn't that much, don't bus driver earn around £30k.
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like somebody above said... its because if they just stopped then the country comes to a standstill. they can ask for whatever they want. don't blame for people that want to go into it with wages like that!

I cant see how its a high skilled job, but i can understand it requires a lot of concentration and commitment.. not 50k's worth though! lol

but £35k isnt much? jesus how much are you on!!?!?! :o
 
Dan87 said:
also if someone commits suicide by jumping in front of a train you get something stupid like 2 months paid holiday for it.
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The emergency services who attend and often have to pick up body parts do not get such leave although you can't fault the operator on the welfare front.

and he said you have to close your eyes and scream at the top of your voice when you see someone about to jump (because the sound is apparently horrible)
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I have never heard the sound but I have seen the sight. 180lbs of flesh, bone and water doesn't stand a chance against 400 tonnes of metal travelling at 100mph.
 
Indie said:
like somebody above said... its because if they just stopped then the country comes to a standstill. they can ask for whatever they want. don't blame for people that want to go into it with wages like that!

I cant see how its a high skilled job, but i can understand it requires a lot of concentration and commitment.. not 50k's worth though! lol

but £35k isnt much? jesus how much are you on!!?!?! :o
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It's not particularly, isn't £24k the average so only 30% more, and when you consider that 24k is skewed with all the £5.80 part timers then it's even less so. A decent graduate (or decent worker) should easily hit £35k in a few years, in fact there are quite a lot of graduate schemes that pay £30k-£35k straight off.
 
kgi said:
Apart from having completed compulsory education and passing concentration tests (that most people can pass with a bit of practice) is not exactly highly skilled or demanding requirements is it?
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Well, if the statistics are right then you'd have to say that yes, the testing is quite demanding. Isn't it in the region of 65%-80% of people tested (not who apply) fail at this hurdle? That's a high dropout rate really.
 
I went through the process about 3 years ago and had a strange experience.

The initial tests were pretty straight-forward and I was suprised at the trouble people had with it. They were all based on concentration and reaction and the pass scores required seemed pretty fair.

I got through to the interview stage, passed that and was offered a position on a course. Only problem being that there was no firm date for the next training course (this was pretty common apparently). A month passed, then six, then a year.

I finally got a letter asking me to come in for a "chat" as it had been a while since the interview. I naively turned up expecting just that, a chat, and was thrown headlong into a full-scale interview I was un-prepared for. It didn't go as well as the first and subsequently the original offer was revoked.

I'll never forget it and I did feel pretty down afterwards but would certainly try again.
 
Ahleckz said:
I question if train driving is a highly skilled job, what exactly makes it so?

Definitely doesn't warrant a wage of £50k+ in my opinion.
Starting wage is equal to that of a copper and more so than a fireman? Ludicrous!
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Not when you can be responsible for the lives of hundreds of people!
Its not just the skill of the job that determines the wages. A nurse is responsible for ~4 people. A train driver going through a red can easily kill hundreds, 2 packed commuter trains head on at 160mph (assuming both travelling at 80mph) would not be a pretty sight!
 
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kgi said:
Have you seen the people that apply for that job? If you have then you would understand why they fail at such high %. This is not to be demeaning to the people that are applying, but honestly, for a job that pays 40k+ within a year and has 0 requirements to apply...wouldn't you expect every man and their dog to apply?

.....

Even if we were to talk strictly about test-failure rates, then my first statement applies to the full.
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From my understanding, every train job has circa 300 applicants across all educational/class backgrounds. Of those around 60ish people are chosen for the testing at which point 65%-80% of those people fail. I'd hope that the HR departments at the TOPs would be able to weed out the completely "unsuitable" (to be nice) people fairly quickly based on their CVs and ability to write a letter.

Additionally, not needing any requirements doesn't make a job unskilled or easy.
 
kgi said:
That is the problem you see, you cannot disqualify them based on CVs simply because there are no formal requirements. It's all down to the physical tests and a quick competency interview. Most people can pass those (or most of those tests).

Apart from that I am not quite sure I understand how a job can be skilled when it has no requirements. Please expand on the issue.

p.s I can understand that a job that has no requirements can be difficult (most of them are as they are labour oriented jobs) but this one is not a physical job at all.
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You don't disqualify people based on CVs, you just don't bother offering them a place in the assessment process to begin with. Like I say, from the stats I've seen for each job there's on average 200 people who don't even make it to the assessments to even begin failing there. So to say it's ALL down to the competency test isn't really valid.

As for skilled jobs not needing requirements, accountancy at the least needs very basic requirements to begin at trainee level and that's a pretty skilled job.
 
LizardKing said:
Not when you can be responsible for the lives of hundreds of people!
Its not just the skill of the job that determines the wages. A nurse is responsible for ~4 people. A train driver going through a red can easily kill hundreds, 2 packed commuter trains head on at 160mph (assuming both travelling at 80mph) would not be a pretty sight!
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I came here to post exactly this. Train operators are not necessarily paid for what they do. They're paid for the random procedures they have to know and react to on a daily basis.

I work for TfL and I applied for a Train Op role, but I failed 2 out of 3 concentration tests! I thought I could just turn up and wing it :)
There is something like 26 weeks of training at basic pay (or current pay if you transfer in from another part of the company) and then you would have to sit another test to see if you're competent enough.

They get paid 38k plus overtime. They also get 52 days a year leave. Seems alright to me! A drawback would be being stuck in a tunnel 8 hours a day.

Because I'm an office worker, if I had failed any part of my training, I would have been out on my arse. It's not like the operational staff who can just go back to their station if they fail, since my office couldn't hire a temp for half a year just in case.

It's probably a good thing I'm not a train driver though. Failing 2/3 concentration tests is bad! :p
 
There's a very interesting (and quite long) read on one mans experience of becoming a train driver from scratch here. I remember finding that some time ago and taking ages to read it all through. There's a lot of work involved, I'd say it's certainly skilled labour.

On his fifth day out as a qualified solo driver, he had a suicide jumper but was back in the cab after just a month.
 
Is suicide really that common? Seems a bit strange to hear everyone talking about it :confused:

Also, whoever mentioned 'staring at tracks', it probably wouldn't be that bad if you did varied routes all over the country, would be nice to see different areas. I suppose the Underground would be a bit boring though...
 
kgi said:
The facts show that the particular profession does not require any unusual skills or qualifications and I wouldn't think that T/Ops have the commuters' lives on their minds all the time.
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what professions would you say DO require high skill then ? and i mean similar paid ones.

average joe couldn't just get in a train and drive it. therefore it requires skill. same as flying a plane or driving a car. its only easy if you know how
 
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