A few questions about station staff....

[watchman87]

Hi all, first post here, wonder if anyone can help me with a couple of things, sorry if I ramble!

Im currently applying for a station staff role with southeastern. Been flicking through this site and getting a bit lost at the terminology. Can anyone tell me the difference between a Guard and a Conductor (if there is one)? Also, do station staff go by different titles, and if so, is there a specific division between them such as some people to do just ticket sales, some just do platform duties? Or does everyone just muck in with everything? Appreciate it must vary from operator to operator but just wanted to hear some examples of people already in the job.

My other question is what sort of shifts do station staff do? I quite like the idea of early and late shifts but would be good to hear what sort hours others do.

Always been interested in working on the railways, not sure why i've left it so late to apply until now. I'm currently also a retained firefighter and hoping it might be possible to continue doing this if I got the job and the shift system allows it.

Cheers for any response

 

[Wolf]

A guard is a conductor - same thing just both names are used. Generally on large stations like Leeds or Manchester Piccadilly the platform staff would consist of dispatchers, gate line staff or revenue protection assistants. Dispatchers dispatch the trains, different stations have different arrangements but generally a company's own dispatchers only dispatch that companies trains such as northern dispatchers at Leeds only do northern services. At Wakefield westgate though East Coast have an arrangement with cross county which sees east Coast dispatches dispatch xc trains. Revenue protection assistants (RPAs) primarily sell tickets either on the train or on the platforms. Booking office staff are based in the booking offices and don't generally have any involvement in anything going off on platforms I don't think. There's also fitters who are based around the station who attend problems on trains at the station , generally to try deal with less serious problems which don't require the train to return to depot such as low water/oil , seiZed up couplers, minor electrical faults etc. Being on the railways is great. Standards are high and there's not room for people to make mistakes and sloppy errors and there's lot to learn depending on the role you go for and if on training course hav to be prepared to put in extra work at home to learn the stuff but it's rewarding and the work atmosphere ( at least at my depot ) is very friendly.

 

[Flamingo]

South Wales, Arriva have some of their station staff multi-skilled, they can do gateline, ATE or dispatch. Guard = conductor = Train Manager for all practical intents and purposes (except you have to be extra good-looking and dashing to be a Train Manager!).

 

[Aictos]

South Wales, Arriva have some of their station staff multi-skilled, they can do gateline, ATE or dispatch. Guard = conductor = Train Manager for all practical intents and purposes (except you have to be extra good-looking and dashing to be a Train Manager!).

A lot of the newer staff that East Coast employ are Station Support Assistants, in a nutshell this means they do assists/dispatch/gateline duties but for much lower pay.

At my TOC, we have Dispatchers/Customer Hosts/Platform Assistant/Station Team Members which is confusing when it's pretty much the same duties all round.

 

[watchman87]

Cracking thanks folks that clears things up a bit. The job advert is just a generic "station staff" title but the description seems to aim more towards platform duties rather than ticket sales.

What sort of training is involved? Although I am interested in the railways I wouldn't call myself an enthusiast by any means. I have some knowledge of Rail related health and safety/incident procedures through the Fire Brigade but as far as day to day dispatching of trains goes I imagine there would be a fair bit of study involved for a guard?

 

[Class 345]

I had a week long induction followed by a week long dispatch course. After that it's station familiarisation and local management passing you out for each platform or location you will be undertaking safety critical duties.


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[watchman87]

Interesting stuff. I know it must be totally different from station to station but what sort of shifts did you do?

 

[Flamingo]

Regarding a Guards job, the training in our depot is at least six months.

 

[Class 345]

At my station we have two shift patterns. Three members of staff do early and late shifts, and four do early, late and night shifts. This means two members of platform staff are on duty during the day and one at night. We also have gateline staff who do early and late and ticket office staff who do early and late.

Different grades do not do each other's shifts as a general rule, as training and competency is different.


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[watchman87]

Thanks for all your response folks.

Application on halt for a bit as southeasterns website seems to be down. Tad frustrating!

Id like to ask, what seems to be the main areas of experience that TOCs look for in candidates that stand out? (for station staff that is)

From what Ive gleaned on here customer service seems to be a biggie, but what sort of experience exactly? Customer service is quite a broad theme. Fortunately Ive got a lot of experience in that area so hoping I should have some evidence regardless.

The other thing seems to be working to procedures and working in a safety critical environment. Anyone got any examples of what would be good evidence here? Ive done a lot with the Fire Brigade that involves strict safety protocols. Also had a little training in railway incidents due to my station area. Would this sort of thing be of use?

 

[Class 345]

Emergency services are good, there's lots of similar work on stations.

Any customer service is good tbh, think of some incidents where you have given great customer service before you go in.

Also, and I can not stress this enough for anyone reading this, volunteer at your local preserved railway. Tell them the type of work you have done, that there are procedures and rule books, exams etc. When I started on the railway I was 18 and my volunteer work practically got me the job.


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[watchman87]

Hi sorry to bump this thread again.

Just trying to prepare some answers if Im lucky enough to get to interview. Would it be cheeky to ask if anyone can give some example questions of the sort in competency/ criteria based interviews? Whether from personal experience of otherwise?