Train drivers = greed

[ExRayTed]

I'm so glad that ExRayTed has been posting in this thread. Because a lot of people in here don't have a clue as to how demanding driving a train is. Afaik, a driver has to learn the entire route they are driving, every inch of it, the location of every signal and have extremely high reaction times. They are responsible from driving trains anywhere from 50-100 tons for 1-2 fully loaded coach trains. All the way up to three to four THOUSAND tons depending on what train they are driving. They can be responsible for well over 1000 lives on a full train. Can you imagine the responsibilty involved when your driving a train with 26 fully loaded tanks (around 90 tons each i think) of explosive/flammable fuel. Like ExRayTed, they can be charged with manslaughter if someone dies on their train. Imagine, your driving a train down a main line at 120+ miles an hour. You see a person jump onto the tracks over a mile away wanting to commit suicide. What can the driver do, apply the brakes and sit there for ages watching this guy get closer, knowing full well that this person is about to die.

I don't claim to know everything because i'm not a train driver. It's always been one of my dreams since i was a kid to drive a train, but i'll never be allowed to because i suffer from Epilepsy. So even if i don't have a seizure for 20-30 years i'm still not allowed, thats how strict the health regulations are. Feel free to correct me on anything thats wrong ExRayTed. But I do have a close friend who is one. He says that the training he undertook and the difficulty of the job is extremely tough and challenging, far more so than he ever thought possible. He has to retake his driving test every 2 years.

Considering the responsibility involved being a train driver, i'd say the wage is definately justified. So those claiming that they just sit on their *** pushing buttons and reading newspapers, do some research before running your mouth about something you clearly don't have a clue about.

Thankyou for the vote of confidence

No corrections needed,you're spot on.It's a shame the public at large don't see this point of view.I think the media are largely to blame for this though..train driving is seen by many as simply moving a few levers and buttons.

There is a world of difference between driving a train and being a train driver

 

[Byron5184]

Thankyou for the vote of confidence

No corrections needed,you're spot on.It's a shame the public at large don't see this point of view.I think the media are largely to blame for this though..train driving is seen by many as simply moving a few levers and buttons.

There is a world of difference between driving a train and being a train driver

I'm actually happy i was correct I've been a train enthusiast for about 18 years and i'm 24. So at least i know that my knowledge is good

The media is always to blame, they take the simplest of explanations (pushing a few buttons, pulling a few levers) and claim thats their job. It's the same with any job. They don't do their research as to what people like train drivers have to actually do and are responsible for. So it warps the publics knowledge as to what people actually do. Causing opinions like those voiced in this thread of people crying that train drivers are vastly overpaid for 'sitting on their ***'.

 

[AGD]

I don't think most people care how freight train drivers are paid or how much responsibility they have. People are annoyed about the abuse of strong union power (e.g. strikes on the tube in london) which has lead to these inflated wages. When you get communists like bob crow (he is actually a communist) leading unions and saying things like he would make sure there were strikes until the tube network was re-nationalised it really annoys people.

 

[dannyjo22]

perhaps unlike most sectors. There's no alternative companies.

Exactly, every time there is one of these threads it's full of office nobblers saying if you don't like it find another job. This will be from people who live in a town with 50 more companies doing the exact same line of work.

How about turning the if you dont like it leave back on to themselves. If you dont like the fact train journeys are too expensive, get a job where you dont have to use the train.

There is always this bitterness when people see someone they considered themselves higher than on the social ladder getting more money than them.

 

[AGD]

Exactly, every time there is one of these threads it's full of office nobblers saying if you don't like it find another job. This will be from people who live in a town with 50 more companies doing the exact same line of work.

No, it's probably from people who have general qualifications (like degrees) which allow them to work in more than one sector or job. Labour market flexibility is a good thing.

 

[V3g3tto]

No, it's probably from people who have general qualifications (like degrees) which allow them to work in more than one sector or job. Labour market flexibility is a good thing.

Although degree standards seem to be slipping fast and graduates are 10 a penny. May aswell of got mine free inside a box of Special K, i don't regard it as anything heh.

I work in Rail engineering and was considering going to Uni again for another 5 years to do an engineering degree, but considering the Principle Engineers here don't earn as much as the drivers on the tracks/infrastructure they design, i'm seriously considering spending 1 year to do the driving training. May not have a glamorous title, but bugger me, would take me 10 years in engineering to get that.

 

[platypus]

And again..why should I get paid less because you get less than me?

Let me ask you directly.Do you think I earn my money or not? Do you think I am justified collecting my salary?

I believe it's a question of parity. Are you justified in collecting £40k for doing what you do? Perhaps.

Are you justified in collecting £40k for doing what you do, when there are people that shoulder more responsibility then you on a daily basis, and get paid a lot less? I'd say not. Of course, it's just a question of semantics.

And how many lives are you responsible for?


M

Depending how you look at it? Several million.

 

[Meridian]

Depending how you look at it? Several million.

You mean they'd die if you got it wrong? Which would be a fairer way of putting it. I could get someone banged up (or a guilty person getting off with it) by making a mistake for instance, but I can't think of any way where I could kill someone by accident at my job. Of course deliberately is a different matter...


M

 

[Glaucus]

And how many jobs will you be charged with manslaughter for forgetting to lock a gate? or leaving a site knowing a piece of fence is broken.

 

[Lord-Jaffa]

Have my first of the year

Please, no can even begin to justify £100k a week in wages for kicking a ball around, its just pure greed.

 

[platypus]

You mean they'd die if you got it wrong? Which would be a fairer way of putting it. I could get someone banged up (or a guilty person getting off with it) by making a mistake for instance, but I can't think of any way where I could kill someone by accident at my job. Of course deliberately is a different matter...


M

However remote, there is that possibility through my job, and not through me flipping and going on a murdering spree. Again, it's down to semantics.

 

[Muffin`]

Please, no can even begin to justify £100k a week in wages for kicking a ball around, its just pure greed.

From an uniformed perspective yes, but he just explained exactly why they have such high wages. In a perfect world Fire Fighters, Coast Guard and Front Line cannon fodder would be on a lot more.

 

[Helium_Junkie]

Then don't moan when another train crash occurs because the driver couldn't read or understand over the CB properly.

And then crash trains because of there lack of English. Happened back last year with two engineering trains luckily they where only going walking pace. Network rails has now introduced English tests. However I'm not sure they're that difficult. Not sure if the TOCs do English tests though.

Pffft, you people want to have your cake AND eat it, dont you!

(I'm only joking.... whats the point of inedible cake!!)

 

[V3g3tto]

In an ideal world yes, said services should be paid better and would be if we had an ideal world:

In an ideal world benefit scroungers would be sent to do the jobs immigrants are needlessly doing, over-stretching our country. By replacing them with bums, we would be:

Reducing the drain of public funds, reducing the burden on the tax payer, reducing the strain on public services, reducing the cost of running said services, reducing the amount of tax we all pay, giving the general public more disposable income,..

...increasing the UK economy, increasing the quality of all public services, increasing standards of education, increasing all public spending, increasing the quality of life for residents of the Uk as a whole.

There, in one foul swoop. Benefit spongers can directly and significantly make everyones lifes better. If only..

 

[Tefal]

Please, no can even begin to justify £100k a week in wages for kicking a ball around, its just pure greed.

If someone made you tens to hundreds of millions a year, would you pay then 100k a year and risk loosing them?

 

[V3g3tto]

I remember David Beckham, in his first season for Real Madrid, earned the club more than the transfer fee and full contract wages combined purely in shirt sales...just for existing

 

[Zogger]

(whats the point of inedible cake!!)

it does make a good metaphor

 

[dannyjo22]

If someone made you tens to hundreds of millions a year, would you pay then 100k a year and risk loosing them?

That argument falls down dead when you hear wes brown is asking for 85k per week

 

[Zogger]

strike has been suspended, woop.

 

[Wyrdo]

I know a train driver, I'm not going to try and justify their jobs but apparently it's mind numbingly boring, there's more red tape than you've ever seen, you sit there all day by yourself saying nothing to anyone and many of them have had someone thrown themselves in front of the train or run over an already dead corpse. Can't be nice seeing that and they have very serious counselling for that.

Sounds like my job but I don't get paid anywhere near 40k and I'll be lucky if I get a 2% pay rise this year

How does one go about becoming a train driver?