Network Rail staff overpaid?

[Tomnick]

Indeed, maintenance staff are, the report claims, similarly overpaid (32%). Again, their technical knowledge is considerable - perhaps a suitable comparison would be highway maintenance chaps, who don't need so much specialist knowledge (and that's not intended to take anything away from the work that they do, often with very little separation from fast-moving traffic). Personally I think the S&T technicians earn every penny when they're trying to locate a single errant relay out of hundreds (often in different locations) whilst under pressure from all directions to get it sorted!

 

[Crossforth]

If I'm overpaid, I'll stand hanging. I earn no where near the average yearly wage.

However we are paid for what we know know not what we do. We also, so I gather, are paid a certain amount of danger money.

But overpaid my @rse

 

[Marklund]

Personally I think the S&T technicians earn every penny when they're trying to locate a single errant relay out of hundreds (often in different locations) whilst under pressure from all directions to get it sorted!

To true.

With the various Ts&Cs all over NR from the IMC days and the failed Harmonisation project, it's not simple to say "NR Maintenance is overpaid"

 

[Crossforth]

To true.

With the various Ts&Cs all over NR from the IMC days and the failed Harmonisation project, it's not simple to say "NR Maintenance is overpaid"

I'm only an apprentice so I suppose being paid and learning isn't too bad but the people I work with in the S&T department work dammed hard. The grief we get from other departments to get the job done is immense. Some people don't realise that this job isn't just changing lamps. There is a lot more to this victorian railway.

 

[Marklund]

I'm only an apprentice so I suppose being paid and learning isn't too bad

You're getting paid less than the British Rail Trainee Technicians were after the 1992 Restructuring for S&T staff in the first year, and not much more in the second though. They were getting about 10K when they turned 18.

Said to the trainees at the time they were on to a good thing, but some didn't believe me.

 

[Mintona]

Signallers are definitely overpaid, all they've managed to do tonight is delay me

 

[thelem]

If I'm overpaid, I'll stand hanging. I earn no where near the average yearly wage.

I'm only an apprentice so I suppose being paid and learning isn't too bad but the people I work with in the S&T department work dammed hard.

You can't compare an apprenticeship to a normal job. According to apprentiships.org.uk the average apprentice gets £170 per week (nearly £9k per year), so that's a better figure to use as a comparison. Network rail lists the advanced apprenticeship scheme as being paid an average of £11,700 per year over the three years plus a generous benefits package worth several thousand more. The video on the advanced apprenticeships page markets them as an alternative to university, where you'd be paying £9k fees and maybe taking a part time job at little more than minimum wage.

 

[Crossforth]

You can't compare an apprenticeship to a normal job. According to apprentiships.org.uk the average apprentice gets £170 per week (nearly £9k per year), so that's a better figure to use as a comparison. Network rail lists the advanced apprenticeship scheme as being paid an average of £11,700 per year over the three years plus a generous benefits package worth several thousand more. The video on the advanced apprenticeships page markets them as an alternative to university, where you'd be paying £9k fees and maybe taking a part time job at little more than minimum wage.

I understand that fully but the rest of the S&T are not overpaid. However I can tell you that bottom of the ladder S&T is paid similar as an acting manager at P-Way

 

[AlexS]

You get people who earn their money and people who try and do as little as possible, such is life.

All I can say is that when the **** hits the fan on the ground, you really value a good signaller, it makes the difference. They're worth whatever it is they're getting. When you know everything is going wrong, can hear the alarms etc going off in the background, and you still get a calm, considered response to a telephone call, it's worth it's weight in gold. Having stopped the whole Midland Main Line because a suicidal trespasser was running towards an approaching freight train, it gives an appreciation of the skills required to hold it together and act decisively. - I made the call, the chap received and processed the information I gave him, and everything was made safe in a few moments.

I play at the job in my spare time and even then it can get tough.

As for the likes of the S&T and Pway, I know Network Rail don't tend to do new works themselves, but again, for whatever silly reason I decided it was wise to volunteer to help with some wiring in a relay room (under supervision, of course) - it did hit me at the time that what I was doing was exactly the same job that following a cockup, resulted in the Clapham Junction crash with 30+ people dead.

That's a lot of responsibility on people's shoulders, without the personal risk to their own safety being out on the line, and again I think they earn every penny.

 

[Crossforth]

You get people who earn their money and people who try and do as little as possible, such is life.

All I can say is that when the **** hits the fan on the ground, you really value a good signaller, it makes the difference. They're worth whatever it is they're getting. When you know everything is going wrong, can hear the alarms etc going off in the background, and you still get a calm, considered response to a telephone call, it's worth it's weight in gold. Having stopped the whole Midland Main Line because a suicidal trespasser was running towards an approaching freight train, it gives an appreciation of the skills required to hold it together and act decisively. - I made the call, the chap received and processed the information I gave him, and everything was made safe in a few moments.

I must agree 100% that a signaller who cooperates is amazing... but those who don't...

As for the likes of the S&T and Pway, I know Network Rail don't tend to do new works themselves, but again, for whatever silly reason I decided it was wise to volunteer to help with some wiring in a relay room (under supervision, of course) - it did hit me at the time that what I was doing was exactly the same job that following a cockup, resulted in the Clapham Junction crash with 30+ people dead.

Just curiosity, may I ask where you did the work? I've just done a course (SMTH for those interested) that should prevent another Clapham disaster. It puts safety measures in place and requires everything to be checked over and over. It also prevents the person doing the work from testing the work thus allowing a fresh set of eyes to examine to work. I now need to be mentored out on track for 6 months before I am fully SMTH qualified. As a side not for those who didn't know, the person "responsible" (I use the term very loosely knowing now what I know) for Clapham still works for the railway.

 

[AlexS]

Sure, Great Central Railway. Amongst other things, I am an occasional S&T installer, which mostly involves humping around lumps of concrete/metal or digging holes but occasionally also a bit of basic electrical work under supervision. I carried out the work under the direct supervision of an installation supervisor, I checked my own work as I went with a 'mate', the installation supervisor checked the work again, and it was checked by an independent competent tester with a team (all competent to do that side of things, by and large they all work/worked for BR/Railtrack/Network Rail/Invensys or similar in senior S&T roles) before it was commissioned. The whole affair took forever but I believe it was done to full National Rail standards.

Myself checking my own work as I go is an addition for my own peace of mind - the installation supervisor and independent tester do their duties in accordance with the normal SMTH rules, my checking not being part of the formal process or replacing any other check - it was simply logged on the installation records that I had carried out the work (my initials on the relevant part of the diagram sheet). As I am not competent to work on live equipment alone (being basically a labourer and interested bod), anything I do, as with anyone else, is checked and double checked, as well as being done under supervision.