does anyone know if there is staff parking arrangements?
The car park is shared with Network Rail. Unlike Victoria, there's enough parking for all the drivers. It's inside the Congestion Charge zone, so be prepared to pay 9 pounds per day if you drive in. Most LB drivers commute by rail.
Does anyone know what my training schedule will look like in terms of hours and timings? Does training take place during unsociable hours or at weekends?
Southern is trialing a new style of driver training called the Driver Learning Framework. Basically, while you're in the training school, you'll be expected to be available five out of seven days every week. Formal activities (that require your attendance having pre-read an online learning module) generally only happen M-F during normal hours, but they do reserve the right to book you in for activities happening outside those hours.
Once you're up to speed after the first few weeks, you'll find yourself with fewer formal activities to attend, so you'll spend the rest of your time doing self-study using the online tools.
Because you're doing the book learning on your own time, the time spent face-to-face with an instructor is mostly doing hands-on stuff using a model train set, simulators, or on actual trains.
There are six "Focus Point" assessments. At each one, you'll be asked to explain or demonstrate the concepts that were covered since the previous one. After you pass the third FP, you get a pay rise to "post-rules" wage. Depending on how they schedule it, you'll probably also get a week of annual leave after FP3 as well.
After FP5 and emergency evacuation training (about five months in), you go off with a driving instructor on his normal rostered schedule (4 days averaging 35 hours per week) until you've done about 100 hours of driving. Then you go back to school to do the FP6 assessment. After 225 hours (about 5 months depending on DI availability) you go off on your own to learn core routes for your depot.
Once you've done all the route learning, you'll be ready for your Initial Competence Assessment (ICA) which is done with a Competence Development Manager (CDM). It last four or five days, where you're tested on rules and traction knowledge, and you drive a minimum of eight hours (three at night) over your core routes.
Pass that assessment, and you'll be considered "passed out" as a qualified train driver. Then the fun really begins.
