Section Planner advice. Role and Tips?

[Ganerirl]

Hello everybody I hope we are all well and getting through these difficult times.

I have been invited to an interview as a Section planner.

I have no work history in railway nor the role however I have a lot of transferable skills and possibly a knack for such a role
HOWEVER

I need some advice on what I should look into regarding the day-day of the role, difficulties, learning/development etc

I also would love to know if anybody has any first hand experience or has worked closely with section planners... what I should say and shouldn't :/ also how to highlight myself to stand out as I have not practically done a role as such.

I have struggled to find much information about these workers they seem not to be as 'liked' as train drivers and signallers lol

TBH any guidance when it comes to working within the railway sector but office based


Thanks in advance

 

[Tom Quinne]

Section planners I assume you mean with Network Rail plan Line blockages to allow S&T or PWay to undertake work between trains.

You’ll be looking at work site mileages, then track maps to work out which signals to use as protection.
It’s one of those lesser known but very much needed jobs.

 

[Jay_123]

Hello mate, its a role I am very familiar with.

"I need some advice on what I should look into regarding the day-day of the role, difficulties, learning/development etc"

You will make the SSOWP's(safe system of work packs) for the teams of men and women who go onto track and carry out work.

You will hold a PDR every week (plan do review) it will be your meeting where you plan with the supervisors/manager/other team members of what manpower you need etc for the up coming works. it does depend on the area as some section managers like their planners to do more and some like them solely to just do the bare minimum. You will do a lot more too than what I've put here but it does depend on your manager to be honest

However, one thing I will tell you is you need to come across highly organised and efficient don't come across as one of those people who would fold when you was given more than one task if that makes sense. Technically your the planner for the whole DU(Delivery unit) so you will manage the plans of work etc. Its quite hard to explain but section planner is one of them roles where it could lead to other jobs in the company. Planning is a very good background to have if you wish to go further up the ranks into management. If you want any more info just ask

 

[Ganerirl]

Hello mate, its a role I am very familiar with.

"I need some advice on what I should look into regarding the day-day of the role, difficulties, learning/development etc"

You will make the SSOWP's(safe system of work packs) for the teams of men and women who go onto track and carry out work.

You will hold a PDR every week (plan do review) it will be your meeting where you plan with the supervisors/manager/other team members of what manpower you need etc for the up coming works. it does depend on the area as some section managers like their planners to do more and some like them solely to just do the bare minimum. You will do a lot more too than what I've put here but it does depend on your manager to be honest

However, one thing I will tell you is you need to come across highly organised and efficient don't come across as one of those people who would fold when you was given more than one task if that makes sense. Technically your the planner for the whole DU(Delivery unit) so you will manage the plans of work etc. Its quite hard to explain but section planner is one of them roles where it could lead to other jobs in the company. Planning is a very good background to have if you wish to go further up the ranks into management. If you want any more info just ask

Thank you for that I have an interview next week and emailed the recruiter and asked similar questions just because a desirable trait for this role is previous experience or knowledge in railway however she explained those subjects will not be 'tested' which is a relief but yes I will work on showing my organisation, planning,efficiency and team work

Thank you for your advice

 

[Ganerirl]

Section planners I assume you mean with Network Rail plan Line blockages to allow S&T or PWay to undertake work between trains.

You’ll be looking at work site mileages, then track maps to work out which signals to use as protection.
It’s one of those lesser known but very much needed jobs.

Yes with NR WORKS DELIVERY <-- I dont even clearly understand what this entails

 

[Jay_123]

Yes with NR WORKS DELIVERY <-- I dont even clearly understand what this entails

Works delivery are basically a department in Network Rail who basically undertake projects under a certain budget before IP(infrastructure projects) take over mate

 

[alxndr]

Yes with NR WORKS DELIVERY <-- I dont even clearly understand what this entails

Works Delivery is the department that deals more with the renewals side of things than bog standard maintenance. They will still be divided into different disciplines (i.e. track or signalling) though.

I second demonstrating that you're organised and can plan into the future. Getting ahead and staying on top of things seems to be key in being a good planner - our planners struggle whenever they end up falling behind.

If you're successful then I'd recommend seeing if you can get out on track for a couple of shifts and see some of the work that you'll be planning for. You don't need railway knowledge to be able to plan well, but it helps to have at least a vague idea what on earth it is that you're planning.

 

[Jay_123]

Yeah i also agree with what alxndr has said 100%. Get your head into PPS too and learn how that works(mention in your interview that your aware of this) might give you brownie points ha

 

[donpoku]

Yeah i also agree with what alxndr has said 100%. Get your head into PPS too and learn how that works(mention in your interview that your aware of this) might give you brownie points ha

What is NR PPS?

 

[Jay_123]

Possession planning system

 

[donpoku]

Possession planning system

Thx

 

[TeeTeeMcgee]

Hey, not sure if I'm too late but I've recently had a Section Planner interview so might be able to provide some further tips/question ideas etc

 

[Ganerirl]

Works Delivery is the department that deals more with the renewals side of things than bog standard maintenance. They will still be divided into different disciplines (i.e. track or signalling) though.

I second demonstrating that you're organised and can plan into the future. Getting ahead and staying on top of things seems to be key in being a good planner - our planners struggle whenever they end up falling behind.

If you're successful then I'd recommend seeing if you can get out on track for a couple of shifts and see some of the work that you'll be planning for. You don't need railway knowledge to be able to plan well, but it helps to have at least a vague idea what on earth it is that you're planning.

Thank you seriously !!! Definitely that's if I get the position.

 

[Ganerirl]

Yeah i also agree with what alxndr has said 100%. Get your head into PPS too and learn how that works(mention in your interview that your aware of this) might give you brownie points ha

Thank you so much for all your help

 

[Ganerirl]

Hey, not sure if I'm too late but I've recently had a Section Planner interview so might be able to provide some further tips/question ideas etc

Your not too late for me but maybe just a brief run down of what was unexpected in the interview.... i.e everything minus the ovbious questions lol . TBH I think ill be alright its just because im not coming from the railway industry I just feel that I dont have a leg to stand on you know. But fire away there may be other candidates now and in the future who might want advise

 

[TeeTeeMcgee]

Your not too late for me but maybe just a brief run down of what was unexpected in the interview.... i.e everything minus the ovbious questions lol . TBH I think ill be alright its just because im not coming from the railway industry I just feel that I dont have a leg to stand on you know. But fire away there may be other candidates now and in the future who might want advise

Awesome. Well apart from the usual safety oriented question of which there was only one, there was a lot of focus on the Non Technical Skills so you'll easily get around 6 questions on virtually each one of those. For reference, you'll probably already know that there's 8 in total.

First couple of questions are the usual, Tell us about yourself and Why did you apply for the role. Mentioning here something about the route strategy will earn you brownie points. They're available online if you haven't already seen a copy.

Third question was about your understanding of the role of a Planner and what you felt were the potential areas for risk around unplanned disruptions.

I came second in my interview, pipped at the post by someone who literally knew the route and all the access and egress points. My biggest tip is to keep your answers to less than 2 mins each and be clear in how you outline your STAR examples. Always use "I" and not "we".

I had to do a role play for my interview, it was just a questionnaire of 10 rail specific questions. I had it a few days before the interview so let me know if this drops in your lap.

If you don't mind me asking, which Planner role is it for? I got asked one question that was specific to the discipline that the role was related to.

Either way, good luck.

 

[Ganerirl]

Awesome. Well apart from the usual safety oriented question of which there was only one, there was a lot of focus on the Non Technical Skills so you'll easily get around 6 questions on virtually each one of those. For reference, you'll probably already know that there's 8 in total.

First couple of questions are the usual, Tell us about yourself and Why did you apply for the role. Mentioning here something about the route strategy will earn you brownie points. They're available online if you haven't already seen a copy.

Third question was about your understanding of the role of a Planner and what you felt were the potential areas for risk around unplanned disruptions.

I came second in my interview, pipped at the post by someone who literally knew the route and all the access and egress points. My biggest tip is to keep your answers to less than 2 mins each and be clear in how you outline your STAR examples. Always use "I" and not "we".

I had to do a role play for my interview, it was just a questionnaire of 10 rail specific questions. I had it a few days before the interview so let me know if this drops in your lap.

If you don't mind me asking, which Planner role is it for? I got asked one question that was specific to the discipline that the role was related to.

Either way, good luck.

Thanks a million for the advice all these comments have been extremely useful. The discipline is (Works Delivery) I have also applied for a section planner ( Signalling) but I dont have a interview for that one 'as yet'. And wow a role play -_- now im really scared lol. Well they haven't sent me anything on that and the interview is next week so I doubt Ill receive this 'hopefully'

 

[TeeTeeMcgee]

Thanks a million for the advice all these comments have been extremely useful. The discipline is (Works Delivery) I have also applied for a section planner ( Signalling) but I dont have a interview for that one 'as yet'. And wow a role play -_- now im really scared lol. Well they haven't sent me anything on that and the interview is next week so I doubt Ill receive this 'hopefully'

Works Delivery can be Signalling or Track so it might be an idea just to get a feel for the types of work these two sections do. They're linked but there are differences and I had a question like "What do you think the main risks would be for a Signalling Renewal?". Funnily enough my interview was for Signalling in case that didn't give it away lol.

What locations have you gone for? I went for the Birmingham International, Shrewsbury and Stafford ones.

I hope you get through chick and fingers crossed no "role play questionnaire" for you

 

[Jay_123]

Works delivery can also be off track, buildings, OLE or drainage etc

 

[TeeTeeMcgee]

@Ganerirl how did your interview go?

 

[Ganerirl]

@Ganerirl how did your interview go?

Oh hellooo hope all is well? thank you for asking .... welll

I FAFFED IT UP BIG TIME *sigh* I was rambling for about 20 minutes about myself and made no sense i think i did decent at the non tech questions and they threw in a surprise question at the end about engineering trains which i think i got the jist off but yeah i was ridiculously nervous they will let me know my fate this Friday however... I have another interview for a similar position, section planner (signalling) hopefully ill do better in that one ...

i really appreciated your help and the rest of the forum I love the community spirit amongst people in the railway sector !

 

[TeeTeeMcgee]

Oh hellooo hope all is well? thank you for asking .... welll

I FAFFED IT UP BIG TIME *sigh* I was rambling for about 20 minutes about myself and made no sense i think i did decent at the non tech questions and they threw in a surprise question at the end about engineering trains which i think i got the jist off but yeah i was ridiculously nervous they will let me know my fate this Friday however... I have another interview for a similar position, section planner (signalling) hopefully ill do better in that one ...

i really appreciated your help and the rest of the forum I love the community spirit amongst people in the railway sector !

The more you do the easier it gets, honestly. We all did the same on our first interview and as you start to learn more about the industry, it becomes less daunting. I'm sure you did fine.

Fingers crossed for you hun. Have a great weekend!

 

[Ganerirl]

The more you do the easier it gets, honestly. We all did the same on our first interview and as you start to learn more about the industry, it becomes less daunting. I'm sure you did fine.

Fingers crossed for you hun. Have a great weekend!

Well I didnt get it -_- but im going to keep applying for similar positions. hopefully all this experience will slowly come into good use.
But I wont give up

 

[TeeTeeMcgee]

Well I didnt get it -_- but im going to keep applying for similar positions. hopefully all this experience will slowly come into good use.
But I wont give up

Sorry hun been a manic week. Sorry you didn't get it but like you said, don't give up and now you've got a head start on the next interview .

Something will come up and you'll get in when you least expect it. It's a great industry to work in.

 

[nar777]

Hello,

I hope you are all well. I must say I really loved seeing the genuine effort of people trying to help one another and I could not help but ask. I have an interview for the section planner role(Track) and have been asked to prepare a 10 mins database presentation. Did anyone do same and if so how did it go. Also can someone please tell me what the potential areas for risk around unplanned disruption and risk for signal renewal. Any little explanation will go a long way to help.

Thanks

 

[Ganerirl]

Hello,

I hope you are all well. I must say I really loved seeing the genuine effort of people trying to help one another and I could not help but ask. I have an interview for the section planner role(Track) and have been asked to prepare a 10 mins database presentation. Did anyone do same and if so how did it go. Also can someone please tell me what the potential areas for risk around unplanned disruption and risk for signal renewal. Any little explanation will go a long way to help.

Thanks

I did not have to create a database presentation, I was mainly asked question surrounding the non technical skills and also personal interests and qualities. Sorry I am unable to help you with this question however I am sure there are people and threads on here that may answer or help guide you towards your answer and creating a great presentation.
Good Luck !!