A career as a signaller

[moorw003]

ROC. There was a vacancy listed for about a week which closed on the 14th November, looking to fill 6 positions, starting February. It seemed quite unusual in terms of numbers required. I work for a TOC and only became aware of the vacancy when a signaller at my station was chatting to me after my shift, and said I should go for it.

 

[Jaysub]

What job was this? In the roc or asc? Don't remember seeing any vacancies for crossing keepers around there

yea 6 new roles came up for basingstoke roc,heard alot is moving there

yea 6 new roles came up for basingstoke roc,heard alot is moving there

ROC. There was a vacancy listed for about a week which closed on the 14th November, looking to fill 6 positions, starting February. It seemed quite unusual in terms of numbers required. I work for a TOC and only became aware of the vacancy when a signaller at my station was chatting to me after my shift, and said I should go for it.

no one knows alot aoout it,what roster is or any details yet so hopefully soon we find out as tests have cut off point in the morning but will still take a few weeks yet.

 

[bouff34]

its an apprenticeship so when you finish you’ll be have to apply for another role hopefully on better pay!

I get the apprenticeship thing but you are applying for a specific box - Barnham for example is a Grade 6 and I'm guessing the Three Bridges roles will be equivalent or possibly even higher. There is a big difference between what is effectively a Grade 2 salary and Grade 6 (or even Grade 5 whilst training). Reading the advert you could come to the conclusion that you will be stuck on £26k for the first twelve months until you'd finished all the attachments. Signalling school also seems to be completed in a series of blocks across the year so I can't see that you could pass out until very near the end??

Wondered if anyone has already been employed on a similar basis and had a better understanding??

 

[Demx93]

Iv

I get the apprenticeship thing but you are applying for a specific box - Barnham for example is a Grade 6 and I'm guessing the Three Bridges roles will be equivalent or possibly even higher. There is a big difference between what is effectively a Grade 2 salary and Grade 6 (or even Grade 5 whilst training). Reading the advert you could come to the conclusion that you will be stuck on £26k for the first twelve months until you'd finished all the attachments. Signalling school also seems to be completed in a series of blocks across the year so I can't see that you could pass out until very near the end??

Wondered if anyone has already been employed on a similar basis and had a better understanding??

I’ll be starting my apprenticeship in December and yes for the 12 months you’ll earn 26k, after that depending if you pass, you’ll be at grade two pay, which is 29k unless you apply for a higher grade role

 

[ArkUTD]

Annoying this with the Apprenticeships is it will not allow you to apply outside of the 1 hour area of the job

 

[bouff34]

Iv

I’ll be starting my apprenticeship in December and yes for the 12 months you’ll earn 26k, after that depending if you pass, you’ll be at grade two pay, which is 29k unless you apply for a higher grade role

Ok, thanks. That's going to deter a lot of people moving from other careers...

 

[NorthernTech]

Ok, thanks. That's going to deter a lot of people moving from other careers...

I completely disagree, I don’t mean to sound funny but with Network Rail paying people £26,000 to retrain at Network Rail’s cost so you can then move on to much higher paying salaries, some £50k plus enhancements, I think that is a great deal. If you were to earn that money elsewhere you may need 3 years at Uni, at your own cost, unpaid with no guarantee of work... Do you honestly expect NR to just hand over £30k, £40k or more while they upskill you or others to a new career?? If I was changing career to something that I really fancied doing, and I had to retrain, I’d factor in a period of low pay until such a time as I was productive, which I would have thought would be obvious IMO.

 

[bouff34]

I completely disagree, I don’t mean to sound funny but with Network Rail paying people £26,000 to retrain at Network Rail’s cost so you can then move on to much higher paying salaries, some £50k plus enhancements, I think that is a great deal. If you were to earn that money elsewhere you may need 3 years at Uni, at your own cost, unpaid with no guarantee of work... Do you honestly expect NR to just hand over £30k, £40k or more while they upskill you or others to a new career?? If I was changing career to something that I really fancied doing, and I had to retrain, I’d factor in a period of low pay until such a time as I was productive, which I would have thought would be obvious IMO.

Sorry but like many others I retired early from the police with years of experience in dynamic risk assessments and making critical decisions in emergency type situations. Clearly many of my skills were directly transferable to signalling. I took a slight pay cut for the period in which I was training but now earn more and am more than happy with the pay package.

My point is that for people like me who already had several years in relevant careers with transferable skills and with a family etc to support I could not imagine being able to take that much of a pay cut for 12 months. I accept that you have to make compromises to achieve what you want but you can't ignore the mortgage and family for a year! This salary structure will only serve to rule out a considerable proportion of potentially highly suitable candidates. £26k doesn't go very far at all if you live in London or the South East.

 

[UVB76]

It is indeed a tough call to make. I'm serving Police, top of pay scale with many years of experience that would transfer into signalling. Signalling is something I've wanted to do for a long time so I've finally applied for a Grade 2 position. If I'm successful then the reality is around a 16k a year pay cut for the training year and even when trained the wage will be 13k less than what I do now. (although potential shift enhancements would reduce that figure).

It's a gamble for sure. Taking a pay cut is not an issue when I think about the potential massive improvement in mental well being and job satisfaction, but the drop in money will have a significant impact at home with family, mortgage, cost of living/utilities going up etc.

 

[Demx93]

For me during the apprenticeship I’ll be losing around £650 per month, some people can afford to, some people can’t. We are all individuals with different circumstances so nobody is right or wrong. I just really want to learn new things and be happy like UVB76 said

 

[bouff34]

It is indeed a tough call to make. I'm serving Police, top of pay scale with many years of experience that would transfer into signalling. Signalling is something I've wanted to do for a long time so I've finally applied for a Grade 2 position. If I'm successful then the reality is around a 16k a year pay cut for the training year and even when trained the wage will be 13k less than what I do now. (although potential shift enhancements would reduce that figure).

It's a gamble for sure. Taking a pay cut is not an issue when I think about the potential massive improvement in mental well being and job satisfaction, but the drop in money will have a significant impact at home with family, mortgage, cost of living/utilities going up etc.

Trust me if you are happy you can get through the first year you won't regret it for one minute!

 

[ArchangelA]

It is indeed a tough call to make. I'm serving Police, top of pay scale with many years of experience that would transfer into signalling. Signalling is something I've wanted to do for a long time so I've finally applied for a Grade 2 position. If I'm successful then the reality is around a 16k a year pay cut for the training year and even when trained the wage will be 13k less than what I do now. (although potential shift enhancements would reduce that figure).

It's a gamble for sure. Taking a pay cut is not an issue when I think about the potential massive improvement in mental well being and job satisfaction, but the drop in money will have a significant impact at home with family, mortgage, cost of living/utilities going up etc.

I'm serving and after 24years leaving to be a grade 6. Best decision I ever made and now on my wind down week before I leave and start at NR

 

[UVB76]

Trust me if you are happy you can get through the first year you won't regret it for one minute!

My main concern is not so much the pay cut it's the fact the role I've gone for is on a 12 month fixed term contract. The advert said after 12 months there's "scope" for applying for a permanent role. This is something I'd obviously raise with the careers team if I get an interview (not convinced after making a right mess of the grid challenge!). Every other signaller role I've seen advertised have all been permanent postings. The one I've applied for is the first one I've been within 60 minutes of, but I am wondering why it's only fixed term. Part of me thinks why would they waste all that money training someone only to bin them off after a year, but who knows? One of the last remaining good things about being in the Police (there's not many left at all now) is the job security. So a few things to consider.

I'm serving and after 24years leaving to be a grade 6. Best decision I ever made and now on my wind down week before I leave and start at NR

Must be a strange old feeling! But a good one. Enjoy the wind down week you've definitely earned it after 24 years!

 

[ArchangelA]

My main concern is not so much the pay cut it's the fact the role I've gone for is on a 12 month fixed term contract. The advert said after 12 months there's "scope" for applying for a permanent role. This is something I'd obviously raise with the careers team if I get an interview (not convinced after making a right mess of the grid challenge!). Every other signaller role I've seen advertised have all been permanent postings. The one I've applied for is the first one I've been within 60 minutes of, but I am wondering why it's only fixed term. Part of me thinks why would they waste all that money training someone only to bin them off after a year, but who knows? One of the last remaining good things about being in the Police (there's not many left at all now) is the job security. So a few things to consider.



Must be a strange old feeling! But a good one. Enjoy the wind down week you've definitely earned it after 24 years!

Well you'll know what it's like mate. Knowing I'm leaving it all behind has given me a breath of fresh air lol....oh hum 5 shirts left to wear haha

 

[NoEyeDeer]

I completely disagree, I don’t mean to sound funny but with Network Rail paying people £26,000 to retrain at Network Rail’s cost so you can then move on to much higher paying salaries, some £50k plus enhancements, I think that is a great deal. If you were to earn that money elsewhere you may need 3 years at Uni, at your own cost, unpaid with no guarantee of work... Do you honestly expect NR to just hand over £30k, £40k or more while they upskill you or others to a new career?? If I was changing career to something that I really fancied doing, and I had to retrain, I’d factor in a period of low pay until such a time as I was productive, which I would have thought would be obvious IMO.

Disagree completely, I would never be a signaller if this was the case when I joined a year ago.

 

[Demx93]

Disagree completely, I would never be a signaller if this was the case when I joined a year ago.

How has your first year been? Do you enjoy it

 

[bouff34]

Disagree completely, I would never be a signaller if this was the case when I joined a year ago.

Exactly, and I can't see how the unions are happy with this. The pay scales say that you are trained at a grade below your substantive grade... So for this particular advert say you apply and want to go to Barnham, a grade 6 box. You won't be able to go to any others as they are outside the 60 min commute for arguments sake. You should be getting grade 5 pay as there is no question as to which box you are going for - the whole 12 months is training you to fulfil this role??? So why should you get grade 2 pay totally contrary to the agreed pay scales for the first 12 months at least???

I can understand some of the other campaigns where you are only applying for future vacancies and could end up in any grade of box - it kind of works in that situation but not for this particular advert????

 

[WoollyMammoth]

yea 6 new roles came up for basingstoke roc,heard alot is moving there



no one knows alot aoout it,what roster is or any details yet so hopefully soon we find out as tests have cut off point in the morning but will still take a few weeks yet.

It’s part of the Feltham and Wokingham re-signalling project, have a quick google on that term to find out more. It’s a 12 hour roster to cover one crossing desk which explains the need for 6 staff. It will have (3?) CCTV crossings. You’ll be right next to the signallers. Eventually it will double to two crossing desks as the project continues.

 

[fi23]

Any Westbury signallers available for a couple of questions?

 

[Jakirola]

Hi all. I h e been offered grade 3 at Willesden. Start date 4th Jan. Ipswich training school from the 10th Jan anyone else going ?

Great news. I'm waiting on confirmation of the school start date but was provisionally told Ipswich 10th Jan. So may see you there.

 

[Jaysub]

It’s part of the Feltham and Wokingham re-signalling project, have a quick google on that term to find out more. It’s a 12 hour roster to cover one crossing desk which explains the need for 6 staff. It will have (3?) CCTV crossings. You’ll be right next to the signallers. Eventually it will double to two crossing desks as the project continues.

Ok thanks for the info buddy,il look into that today and see what i can find.thats good its on a 12 hour roster as more days off right?

 

[WoollyMammoth]

Ok thanks for the info buddy,il look into that today and see what i can find.thats good its on a 12 hour roster as more days off right?

Some people prefer them (myself included) but others like the flexibility of being available before or after a shift on an 8 hour roster. Personally the days are longer but you do less of them!

 

[Simon wathall]

Anyone done the Signaller Scenario assessment?

 

[Dandan062]

Great news. I'm waiting on confirmation of the school start date but was provisionally told Ipswich 10th Jan. So may see you there.

That’s brilliant. That’s what I was told as well.

 

[moorw003]

I've been invited to an interview for the crossing keeper role above. Will do some good swotting and keep all my fingers crossed!

 

[Chrisjhbrown]

I've been invited to an interview for the crossing keeper role above. Will do some good swotting and keep all my fingers crossed!

Get in network rails life saving rules and network rail info on connect, have a look to see what Level crossings are in your patch lines and speeds and foot crossings if any

 

[Trainn99]

Hi All! I’m due to start Signaller School soon. Which I can’t wait for!

Im used to working shift work as I have done so for the last 4 years, however everywhere seems to suggest a different shift pattern?

My box will be Haslemere as a grade 3. Has anyone worked this area and could like me know how the shifts work?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Jaysub]

Hi All! I’m due to start Signaller School soon. Which I can’t wait for!

Im used to working shift work as I have done so for the last 4 years, however everywhere seems to suggest a different shift pattern?

My box will be Haslemere as a grade 3. Has anyone worked this area and could like me know how the shifts work?

Thanks in advance!

When you starting bud?

 

[Yorks1179]

My main concern is not so much the pay cut it's the fact the role I've gone for is on a 12 month fixed term contract. The advert said after 12 months there's "scope" for applying for a permanent role. This is something I'd obviously raise with the careers team if I get an interview (not convinced after making a right mess of the grid challenge!). Every other signaller role I've seen advertised have all been permanent postings. The one I've applied for is the first one I've been within 60 minutes of, but I am wondering why it's only fixed term. Part of me thinks why would they waste all that money training someone only to bin them off after a year, but who knows? One of the last remaining good things about being in the Police (there's not many left at all now) is the job security. So a few things to consider.



Must be a strange old feeling! But a good one. Enjoy the wind down week you've definitely earned it after 24 years!

I wouldn’t be concerned about the 12-month fixed contract. As my LOM said at the time, NR aren’t going to go to the time and expense to train you, to then say goodbye 12 months later. I and my colleague started at the same time and were on permanent contracts as we started IST (admittedly IST delayed by covid) and many others secure a permanent contract before they finish IST. It’s just the way recruitment do it.

 

[Trainn99]

When you starting bud?

End of December!