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Pros and cons of being a train driver

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Riise22

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22 May 2018
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Hi,

I am looking into applying to become a trainee train driver and was wondering what are the pros and cons of the job have done a bit of reasearch with most of the pros being about the wage(is it really that good?) and the biggest con being about the shift work(how bad actually is it) I don’t mind doing shift work but worries that it will get in the way of my season ticket at my local football club.
Also is there any news about driverless trains coming about anytime soon?

Any info would be great.
Thanks
 
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Driver2B

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The wage is really good as are perks (free travel on your own and partner TOCs, 75% off the rest of the network except Advance fares after a year). The average 4-day working week is also good! It's also fun if the job suits you!

I understand that working shifts and shift changes is the most complained about part of the job as well as longer days (35 hours per week arranged over 4 days rather than 5).

I understand that driverless trains won't be on the vast majority of the UK network any time soon because of the complicated nature of it, and the slow progress we tend to make in this country.

Other people, including existing drivers, will probably reply soon.
 

greatkingrat

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I don’t mind doing shift work but worries that it will get in the way of my season ticket at my local football club.

Being realistic, as a train driver you will not be able to go to every game. Probably at least half, if not more of the games will clash with shifts. Sometimes you might be able to swap shifts with someone else to a day that suits you better but there is no guarantee.
 

theironroad

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The wage is really good as are perks (free travel on your own and partner TOCs, 75% off the rest of the network except Advance fares after a year). The average 4-day working week is also good! It's also fun if the job suits you!

I understand that working shifts and shift changes is the most complained about part of the job as well as longer days (35 hours per week arranged over 4 days rather than 5).

I understand that driverless trains won't be on the vast majority of the UK network any time soon because of the complicated nature of it, and the slow progress we tend to make in this country.

Other people, including existing drivers, will probably reply soon.

No free or reduced rate travel for new freight drivers and possibly lots of nights depending what part of freight.
 

Dave1987

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Hi,

I am looking into applying to become a trainee train driver and was wondering what are the pros and cons of the job have done a bit of reasearch with most of the pros being about the wage(is it really that good?) and the biggest con being about the shift work(how bad actually is it) I don’t mind doing shift work but worries that it will get in the way of my season ticket at my local football club.
Also is there any news about driverless trains coming about anytime soon?

Any info would be great.
Thanks

Money is good. The job itself is enjoyable. Can be very stressful at times. The shift work can be a real ball ache at times, as in kiss goodbye to your body clock.

With regards to driverless trains, they may happen in the very distant future but not for a very long time so I would not even worry about it.
 

ZNB12

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Hi,

I am looking into applying to become a trainee train driver and was wondering what are the pros and cons of the job have done a bit of reasearch with most of the pros being about the wage(is it really that good?) and the biggest con being about the shift work(how bad actually is it) I don’t mind doing shift work but worries that it will get in the way of my season ticket at my local football club.
Also is there any news about driverless trains coming about anytime soon?

Any info would be great.
Thanks
All depends on which TOC you apply for! I held a season ticket for 5 years and only missed a total of 20 games in the 5 years. You could be ruthless and book most Saturdays off at the start of the year.
My TOC work a 5 day week, no night turn though. Sundays out side the working week.
I would tell anyone to join the railway at any grade. Good money for doing very little!
 

Shrimper

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Depends on your team - if Sunday's are out if the working week and you support a team that often gets shown on TV on a Sunday you can see plenty. Our depot also sees regular swaps between the reds and blues as they aren't normally allowed to play home games on the same fixture weekend.

Big perk for me is that subject to any delays, once I key out of my last train I am gone and don't have to think about work until my next book on. Whereas friends who work in financial services are expected to do unpaid overtime and be on call over weekends and sometimes even in holidays so often can't really switch off.

I've always enjoyed shift work so it's never been an issue for me personally. Avoiding rush hour is always nice too, gives more quality time when my commute is a quarter of the time it would be in peak!
 

dctraindriver

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Pros. If you keep your nose clean, head down you’ll left alone. Salary, pension. Free travel, priv (though that’s any staff). Shift work can be a positive.

Cons. Shift work can be a pain. Expect to work many weekends. If you socialise lots expect that to change as you’ll miss friends weekend meets etc. Going to bed at 8PM on your last rest day in the summer to start at 3.30 AM and finding it hard to get to sleep.

Being human it’s easy to make a mistake. If you make a mistake management will be looking at you. There will be support plans to help you improve, however make too many mistakes and you could be taken off driving (rightly IMHO).

It’s a good job, you are paid a good salary for the shifts, managing your own fatigue, keeping on top of your rules and maintaining concentration while driving. Do all that, key off and forget about work. However it’s a very responsible, safety critical role.
 

Riise22

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Thanks for all your feedback so far guys.

My team mostly play on a Saturday, only get on tv a couple of times a season lol.
The company I am thinking of applying for is greater anglia so not sure how they work it all
 

bramling

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Hi,

I am looking into applying to become a trainee train driver and was wondering what are the pros and cons of the job have done a bit of reasearch with most of the pros being about the wage(is it really that good?) and the biggest con being about the shift work(how bad actually is it) I don’t mind doing shift work but worries that it will get in the way of my season ticket at my local football club.
Also is there any news about driverless trains coming about anytime soon?

Any info would be great.
Thanks

POSITIVES:
Good pay
Days off in the week and able to take annual leave at less busy times
Rarely need to travel in the rush hour to/from work
Leave work behind at the end of the day
Most of the time left to own devices
Little interaction with passengers
A fairly easy and stress-free job if one has the right mindset and makes the effort to get up to speed with everything
Good job security

NEGATIVES:
Shift work
Likelihood of working different times from one day / week to the next
Risk of having an incident
Having to cover for poor performers at times with whom management seem to do little about
Can't always guarantee getting the days off one wants
Working environment can be poor, particularly facilities and things like messrooms
Transient nature of the privatised railway
 

Economist

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The pay is good and if you want more money overtime is available (not recommended if you're newly qualified). The driving side of the job is enjoyable, especially if you're an introvert and/or prefer routine. Shifts can be good or bad depending on your life, be prepared to decline a few invitations from time to time, membership of regularly meeting groups can be tough (e.g. a sports team or an orchestra) though some groups can work around it.

For me, the big negative is DOO(P) and/or DCO. At a lot of companies you'll be required to dispatch your own train using video monitors. Pretty much all new stock (even express trains) seems to be equipped for it and it's spreading across the industry. The real problem is that TOCs have, in the past, hung out their staff to dry over DOO when a passenger has been injured during the dispatch process (even when the passenger has acted dangerously), plus the CPS seem to take an interest in any dispatch incidents. The video images you'll get are likely to be of poor quality too, especially on sunny days.

Additionally, there's quite a few TOCs which don't differentiate between errors and violations anywhere nearly as much as they should. "Just Culture", which you may see elsewhere, appears to be limited in scope at best.
 

tiptoptaff

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Thanks for all your feedback so far guys.

My team mostly play on a Saturday, only get on tv a couple of times a season lol.
The company I am thinking of applying for is greater anglia so not sure how they work it all

If you're based in GA land, you.may support who I do. And after the year we've had, I wouldn't bother )
 

ComUtoR

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We have a small group of us that go to our local club. Two of which have season tickets. One of them pretty much never misses a game (home or away) as he swaps out all his football days. So many people swap turns you can generally get what you need.
 

ZNB12

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Thanks for all your feedback so far guys.

My team mostly play on a Saturday, only get on tv a couple of times a season lol.
The company I am thinking of applying for is greater anglia so not sure how they work it all
Depends on Depot. Colchester , Clacton work 8 weeks on 2 weeks off. 5 day week, quite a few weekends off.
Don't know what Norwich work.
Cambridge, Bishop Stortford work an average 4 day week with lots of weekends off. So you will probably only miss 6 home games a season. Also take into account weekend engineering works.
 

Riise22

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That does sound good about the 8 weeks on and 2 weeks off if that is what GA do.

As well as the possibility of maybe swapping shifts with other members of staff.

Thanks for all the replies so far
 

SA91

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The pay is good and if you want more money overtime is available (not recommended if you're newly qualified).
I'm curious as to why you mention this? Is it a case of not trying to run before you can walk?
 

Riise22

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What is the training also like as have heard it takes a year to be trained?
 

sw1ller

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I'm curious as to why you mention this? Is it a case of not trying to run before you can walk?

That’s pretty much the case yes. However, im still PQA and I’ve been hammering the overtime. It depends on how you approach the job. Some people can do it and some people can’t/don’t want to. I think it helps I’m on permanent lates so my body clock isn’t all over the place. If I was on a normal shift I don’t think I’d do any overtime at all.

There’s two ways of looking at it I suppose..

• don’t do overtime and you’re spending less time in a train, therefore less chances to make a mistake. You’re also as fresh as possible for each shift setting you up in the best possible way.
• do overtime, get more experience. More chances of doing the rarer things like passing a signal at danger with authority, tending to mechanical issues and working in times of disruption for example. But at the same time, you could burn yourself out and be more prone to mistakes.

This is why self management is so important to a train driver.
 

trainmania100

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Couldn't stand shift work at Asda being asked to get up early on Sundays although I was working 6 days a week at that time (5 days full time + 1 day Asda per week)
Guess it's not so bad having shift work it's probably better being called in as and when required than having to do Monday to Friday 9-5
 

GB

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Couldn't stand shift work at Asda being asked to get up early on Sundays although I was working 6 days a week at that time (5 days full time + 1 day Asda per week)
Guess it's not so bad having shift work it's probably better being called in as and when required than having to do Monday to Friday 9-5

Theres shift work and then theres railway shift work. Standard shift work where you are something like 1400-2200, 2200-0600, 0600-1400 is one thing but when you are train crew that can have multiple different start and finish times throughout the same week is something else!
 

sw1ller

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We have a week of 20:53-05:x? 21:40-0608 2010-05:x? 19:30-0030. You’re off Sunday then onto earlies which can start from 0320
 

Dieseldriver

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Also a point about shift work on the Railway as a Train Driver. The job requires you to be fully alert and concentrating on a task that can have serious implications if you make the smallest of errors. A massive part of being a Train Driver is the lifestyle choices you have to make to ensure you're well rested and safe for your next shift.
 

Johncleesefan

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The pros really do outweigh the cons in this job. The money, terms and conditions, benefits plus holidays and time away from work are all there.

The only real cons are

1: shift work, you will need strong self discipline to be fit for duty and rest during the worst parts of the day ie 3am alarms are very common to me

2: coping with the boredom/monotony
I will admit it’s a highly repetitive job and again discipline is required to keep you alert at all times and even more so during those crucial points on your route.
 

axlecounter

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Not to mention booking on at a depot at silly o'clock on a cold winter's morning and starting in a freezing cold train. Bit different from signing on at a nice warm supermarket eh?

I don’t know if you did the latter in your life, but personally I didn’t found anything nice in signing in before sunrise at the local supermarket. It sure was warm but cleaning the whole market floor as first thing in the morning wasn’t exactly like preparing a train at dawn, even when freezing (not to mention the amount of time spent in the cold-store :lol:).

I’d say that I find railway shift work surely harder than many other jobs, but the driver’s daily work surely can’t be seen as harder as these jobs. And that’s what drives mad envious some, probably :D
 

cazlas10

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I am waiting for an interview for a commercial guard position at Farnham. One of my main concerns is the shifts. Can I assume that the shifts will be the same as the drivers? It's a bit concerning reading some of these posts regarding the shifts.
 

greatkingrat

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I am waiting for an interview for a commercial guard position at Farnham. One of my main concerns is the shifts. Can I assume that the shifts will be the same as the drivers? It's a bit concerning reading some of these posts regarding the shifts.

Yes, guards will work similar shifts to drivers. Sometimes they won't be start quite as early, as the first trains of the day may start empty with only a driver, and pick up the guard en route, but it will still be early by normal standards.
 

sw1ller

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I have no idea how they operate down south. But up here they’re basically the same. Drivers tend to get the mega early turns as some trains need to be driven to the start points from the depot which can be over an hour away. There’s also the fact the trains are prepared from depot so the driver normally starts earlier.

They tend to finish at the same time here too. However, the drivers have 2 turns that last all night where as the guards don’t. I would say the guards could be working any hour between 0330-0230. Don’t think there’s any requirement for a guard between 0230-0330. So 23 hours of possible work time. (Just to be clear, these are not the length of the shift, just when it’s possible to work)

Short answer to your question would be yes. But you’ll get used to them. It really is an important part of the application process to recognise how the shifts work and be prepared for them.
 

theironroad

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I am waiting for an interview for a commercial guard position at Farnham. One of my main concerns is the shifts. Can I assume that the shifts will be the same as the drivers? It's a bit concerning reading some of these posts regarding the shifts.

Which bit is concerning you?
 
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