So far train crew, specifically drivers has been talked about. But there are many other jobs on the railway. Such as maintenance of the rolling stock and the infrastructure. On the infrastructure side, as well as signallers, there are all the maintenance staff.
Depending on where you are in the country and the current number of vacant posts that the relevant company are recruiting for, plus how well you as an individual do in the process along with luck will determine how likely you are to get a job.
Two weeks ago, while waiting for a meeting to resume, there was talk about the number of external applications for the advertised jobs. It was about 60 applications per advertised job.
If you do want a railway job, some things to think about:
Don’t tell them you play sport at weekends, the company often want people who will be happy to work weekend turns. One manager when faced with a pile of applications put every sing one that mentioned sport into the bin without reading any further...
Most of the important jobs involve a lot of shift work.
Anything that is railway specific and specialist, the company will train you.
Those that are new to the railway often go in at the bottom and then work their way up. So for example, unless you already have the experience and skills, you can’t get a job as a mid or higher graded signaller. You may have to go for a crossing keepers job, or for the lowest of the signaller grades.
If you are prepared to travel to different depots, you are more likely to get a job, and will be able to go up through the grades more quickly.