Do station staff have to learn routes?

[PCOEvs]

I am shortly be doing a SWTs assessment as a Station Assistant, I understand drivers have a period to fully learn routes they will be driving (3 months I believe), do station staff also have a period of training/self training to learn the basics about routes, stations, times etc?

 

[221129]

No...

 

[PCOEvs]

No...

Simple as that.
Thanks

 

[306024]

No...

Well that was helpful to a relatively new poster.

If you are going to be working on a station of course knowing the geography of the immediate area is somewhat useful, but you can pick all that up as you learn. No you won't need drivers detailed route knowledge but I don't believe that was your original question.

The more you learn about the timetable etc the more confident you'll be in dealing with some of the more obscure questions the public like to ask.

 

[godfreycomplex]

Again, not really
However they (at least platform staff anyway) do need to learn the signals/controlling box/name of lines at each station they pass out of in case there's a need for them to go onto the track/they need to report a fault to the signal box. They also need to have a basicknowledge of routes from a passenger's perspective in order to answer questions however it's nowhere near the amount of knowledge of, say, traincrew
All the best for the assessment

 

[PCOEvs]

All the best for the assessment

Cheers

 

[306024]

Good point regarding signalling. If you are going to be involved in train despatch then yes knowing which signals apply to your train is vital. Trying to despatch a train against a red light is a crime you don't want to commit.

 

[neilb62]

Again, not really
However they (at least platform staff anyway) do need to learn the signals/controlling box/name of lines at each station they pass out of in case there's a need for them to go onto the track/they need to report a fault to the signal box. They also need to have a basicknowledge of routes from a passenger's perspective in order to answer questions however it's nowhere near the amount of knowledge of, say, traincrew
All the best for the assessment

Most platform staff these days don't have Track Safety Cards so going onto the track is a no-no, train dispatch is a different matter and is usually a promotion up from what you would start as. Even then any routes indicated on the signal isn't their concern (at least not where I work) it's just stop/go, the displayed routes are up to the train-crew...

 

[godfreycomplex]

Most platform staff these days don't have Track Safety Cards so going onto the track is a no-no, train dispatch is a different matter and is usually a promotion up from what you would start as. Even then any routes indicated on the signal isn't their concern (at least not where I work) it's just stop/go, the displayed routes are up to the train-crew...

Platform & train dispatch are typically one and the same thing in South Western land these days, even some of the ticket office staff have PTS (Personal Track Safety for the un-initiated). Not sure if it's officially taught and part of competency, but down my way they're usually reasonably hot on routes e.t.c. (Wrong routes have been called in by platform staff before the driver's noticed before now)

 

[70014IronDuke]

Dear OP,

You need to understand the difference between 'technical' or 'professional railway' meanings and what the general public may understand by terms used.

A driver needs to know routes intimately. He/she needs to know that at (say) MP 47/that overbridge I should be doing 70 mph but I need to start braking in order to be down to 35 mph for the speed restriction over the XYZ crossing - or whatever. A good driver, in poor conditions (say at leafall) will know even better and more nuanced what to do, but that only comes with experience. (I stand to be corrected, I've never been footplate crew, just from what I've seen how they worked a few decades ago.)

A station worker does not need to know this in-depth knowledge.

But you will need to know, or expected to learn (and given teaching, or time to learn) general route knowledge. eg that at (say) Basingstoke, trains to Exeter go via Andover and Salisbury, and not (at least normally) via Eastleigh.
These are two vastly different sets of knowledge.
In the old days, you started as a junior porter (or whatever it was called on your line) and you picked this up with the help of senior staff.

 

[PCOEvs]

Dear OP,
You need to understand the difference between 'technical' or 'professional railway' meanings and what the general public may understand by terms used.

A station worker does not need to know this in-depth knowledge. These are two vastly different sets of knowledge.

This was what I meant in the original question. A trainee driver I was talking to was saying he had finished his driving training and now had three months learning his routes, which as you say is 'technical' learning. And I was thinking about whether there is as you say 'professional' route learning. Joe Public stepping on a platform, will expect you to answer his question about what platform, what time, where to change and probably the best place to get a coffee!

 

[nuts & bolts]

This was what I meant in the original question. A trainee driver I was talking to was saying he had finished his driving training and now had three months learning his routes, which as you say is 'technical' learning. And I was thinking about whether there is as you say 'professional' route learning. Joe Public stepping on a platform, will expect you to answer his question about what platform, what time, where to change and probably the best place to get a coffee!

You will be a focal point for customer service, being able to answer the travelling publics enquiries for your TOC 's timetable as well as other TOC's services operating at your station and along the line of respective routes, especially Interchanges!

 

[craigybagel]

Most platform staff these days don't have Track Safety Cards so going onto the track is a no-no, train dispatch is a different matter and is usually a promotion up from what you would start as. Even then any routes indicated on the signal isn't their concern (at least not where I work) it's just stop/go, the displayed routes are up to the train-crew...

As a former dispatcher at the company you work for, at least at my station routes on the signal were considered our problem - we were supposed to check and make sure we didn't give the tip against a signal set for the wrong route. I'm not sure if we'd have copped for any delay minutes though if we sent a train down the wrong route and the traincrew accepted it.....

Going back towards the OP's post - when I was a dispatcher you could only work at stations you were trained on. You could do overtime at other stations, but on your first visit you would need to arrive early to receive training on the signalling at that station. It didn't take very long, but you couldn't just dispatch at any station. There's a lot more to being a dispatcher than most people would expect.

 

[LowLevel]

Most platform staff these days don't have Track Safety Cards so going onto the track is a no-no, train dispatch is a different matter and is usually a promotion up from what you would start as. Even then any routes indicated on the signal isn't their concern (at least not where I work) it's just stop/go, the displayed routes are up to the train-crew...

There's an exemption for trained and briefed station staff to go trackside at stations with a line blockage to retrieve lost property and other items etc without having to hold a PTS card. We had to sign for precisely one page of the sectional appendix with our station on it and were briefed on going trackside for the above reason, and also operating the barrow crossing in the event of lift failure.

As for route knowledge it is a bit different on a station but still relevant to a degree - you have things like customer service and commercial route knowledge - which stations can't handle wheelchairs, which have short platforms making bike storage tricky and so on, but also station working - at a complex station it can take over a month to qualify - Nottingham for example is 6 weeks due to the amount of shunt moves, trains empty to depot, attachments and divisions and so on.

It's quite common to start as a dispatcher nowadays anyway. I started as one at a busy 4 platform Intercity station with unit stabling, carriage sidings etc.