-
Our booking engine at tickets.railforums.co.uk (powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!
Swr metro guard course
- Thread starter Boski
- Start date
- Status
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R
RailUK Forums
J3053B
Member
What do you want to know for? Because there’s little you can do to prepare.
Don’t think you need to get a head start on anything it will serve no purpose.
Go with an open mind, listen to the trainers, spend time revising with the others on the course.
Both metro guards and commercial guards do the same course, the only difference is commercial do a two week revenue course after.
Don’t think you need to get a head start on anything it will serve no purpose.
Go with an open mind, listen to the trainers, spend time revising with the others on the course.
Both metro guards and commercial guards do the same course, the only difference is commercial do a two week revenue course after.
lxfe_mxtterz
Member
As @J3053B has said, there isn't too much you can do to prepare as everything will be taught to you from the very basics, however...
For me, it was around four weeks in a classroom at the Network Rail Training Centre in Basingstoke. The first few days are just a corporate welcome. You'll receive some freebies and it isn't too intense.
After that, you'll move onto the "proper" stuff, starting with PTS (Personal Track Safety). There's an exam on that which is pretty straightforward.
Then comes the really heavy content, and you'll be taught about signalling, dispatching, train accidents and all the rules surrounding them.
You'll have a few "out days" interspersed throughout the course, which allow you to stretch your legs away from the classroom. On my course, we were taken to Alton for ramp laying practice, up to the operations centre in Basingstoke for a brief tour and there was also a "train working day" which allowed us to put into practice what we'd learnt thus far in the classroom.
The pace picks up as you near the end, and progress assessments will be thrown at you left, right and centre, but this is all good practice for the final exam you'll have to sit.
After you're done with the classroom-based learning, you'll spend two to three weeks learning the traction (partly as static in the depot, and then train working and being assessed on that). After this, you'll return to Basingstoke for your final rules exam, and then you're off to your depot for route learning, etc.
Your commercial classmates will return to Basingstoke in a couple of weeks for their commercial course, but as a metro guard you won't have to.
There's no denying it's tough and intense - it's certainly a heck of a lot to take in, in such a short amount of time - but I found it interesting and really good fun.
The exams seem daunting at first, but they're mostly multiple choice and given you've paid attention and done your revision, you'll fly through them.
Good luck.
For me, it was around four weeks in a classroom at the Network Rail Training Centre in Basingstoke. The first few days are just a corporate welcome. You'll receive some freebies and it isn't too intense.
After that, you'll move onto the "proper" stuff, starting with PTS (Personal Track Safety). There's an exam on that which is pretty straightforward.
Then comes the really heavy content, and you'll be taught about signalling, dispatching, train accidents and all the rules surrounding them.
You'll have a few "out days" interspersed throughout the course, which allow you to stretch your legs away from the classroom. On my course, we were taken to Alton for ramp laying practice, up to the operations centre in Basingstoke for a brief tour and there was also a "train working day" which allowed us to put into practice what we'd learnt thus far in the classroom.
The pace picks up as you near the end, and progress assessments will be thrown at you left, right and centre, but this is all good practice for the final exam you'll have to sit.
After you're done with the classroom-based learning, you'll spend two to three weeks learning the traction (partly as static in the depot, and then train working and being assessed on that). After this, you'll return to Basingstoke for your final rules exam, and then you're off to your depot for route learning, etc.
Your commercial classmates will return to Basingstoke in a couple of weeks for their commercial course, but as a metro guard you won't have to.
There's no denying it's tough and intense - it's certainly a heck of a lot to take in, in such a short amount of time - but I found it interesting and really good fun.
The exams seem daunting at first, but they're mostly multiple choice and given you've paid attention and done your revision, you'll fly through them.
Good luck.
Last edited:
potentially
Member
Curious now - What happens should you fail either one of the progress assessments or the final exams? Got my interview coming up and wondering how it works further down the line. Cheers
lxfe_mxtterz
Member
I believe ultimately it would be up to the discretion of the trainers, however I'd imagine in almost all cases they would allow you another chance (and of course provide extra support for you).
At the end of the day, they are there to pass you and get you through the exams. They aren't there to fail you or catch you out.
In cases of consistently poor performance, however, I'd imagine suitability for the role may be brought into question.
Try not to worry too much about the exams. As I mentioned above, they're daunting at first, but you'll be taught everything. Everybody on my course passed first time, even those who were slightly slower off the mark.
Best of luck with your interview.
Hi Boski
I agree with lxfe_mxtterz PTS would be your first point of call. In terms of anything else maybe wait until you get your trainer. If you want to get the heads up on PTS, you can visit http://uktrainingsolutions.com where you can go through the course at no cost. This site helped me and PTS is very robust on this website. I actually did the assessment here as well, and shocking enough at the end of the assessment, it goes through your answers and provides you with audio feedback with a lot of underpinning knowledge.
Hope it helps and the course is free.
I agree with lxfe_mxtterz PTS would be your first point of call. In terms of anything else maybe wait until you get your trainer. If you want to get the heads up on PTS, you can visit http://uktrainingsolutions.com where you can go through the course at no cost. This site helped me and PTS is very robust on this website. I actually did the assessment here as well, and shocking enough at the end of the assessment, it goes through your answers and provides you with audio feedback with a lot of underpinning knowledge.
Hope it helps and the course is free.
ThePeakNed
Member
Are people not allowed to be curious, or...?
- Status