Apologies if this is a thread that has been created before but I cannot find it for the life of me (maybe not looking hard enough).
I am beginning a career as a signaller (currently in IST, so no firm role yet) and just wanted to know what the prospects are for opportunities abroad. Is this a job role that is transferrable to another country? Another person on the course said this is a job you can do "anywhere in the world, with this training" and I was very skeptical.
Thanks in advance.
I've known three Network Rail signallers who have managed to get jobs abroad -
1) Western Australia. The railway company came to the UK in 2012 actively seeking to recruit existing signallers and offered visa sponsorship. The person's partner hated living there and the family moved home four years later.
2) Saudi Arabia. This person was also poached directly from Network Rail along with quite a few others. They were on an eye-watering tax free salary but also hated the place and came home within two years. I understand that it wasn't a very nice company to work for and most of the NR staff who went out there have come home now.
3) Wellington New Zealand. This person got their residency by marrying a New Zealander they met on holiday. They managed to get a job with KiwiRail very easily on the back of their NR employment and they now work in the national train dispatch centre where most of the network is controlled from. They still live there, absolutely love it and it does certainly look like a great job from the stuff they post on social media. I looked seriously at following them in 2019 when they mentioned that KiwiRail were recruiting but the visa/work permit restrictions at that time didn't allow railway workers to immigrate.
If you're still at IST it might be better to focus your energy on passing the course, securing a permanent post and passing out rather than looking abroad.
