A typical day as a trainee driver/ quilified driver

[D3WY]

Hi everyone im new here I have been looking through a few posts over the last few days. I am applying for a trainee driver roll for Southern Rail (Govia Thameslink)

I wondered is anyone could give me a brief idea of what the day to day routine is for a trainee and for a qualified driver. So for example my understanding is the average shift is about 9 hours so would a driver be driving up and down the same route all day or would he/she drive a route get to the end of the route than use a different route?

Thanks in advance

Alex

 

[387star]

Day to day for a trainee?

Hard to describe

A trainee trains for up to a year or even as many as 18 months or so in some cases due to DI shortages or new fleet transitions etc

Only wheb they are with a DI do they follow the qualified rest day pattern. 35 hours averaged over 4 days 5 days off every 3 weeks in most cases

All jobs are different and many permutations apply

 

[Headhunco]

Hi everyone im new here I have been looking through a few posts over the last few days. I am applying for a trainee driver roll for Southern Rail (Govia Thameslink)

I wondered is anyone could give me a brief idea of what the day to day routine is for a trainee and for a qualified driver. So for example my understanding is the average shift is about 9 hours so would a driver be driving up and down the same route all day or would he/she drive a route get to the end of the route than use a different route?

Thanks in advance

Alex

First of all it depends when I was a trainee you would have different modules to get through some was classroom learning rules like Temporary block working/ESR/AWS/TPWS
One module was based on traction another module was just fully based on driving getting your hours up so depending on what your doing you would turn up in the classroom do 6-7 hours learning then go home or if your out driving getting your hours up you will follow your DI or if you in the depot learning about the unit , once you qualified you will sign on in the depot Read all the notice cases find where you train is , in the depot or at a station then go and drive till you finish lol

 

[SGD5891]

Hi everyone im new here I have been looking through a few posts over the last few days. I am applying for a trainee driver roll for Southern Rail (Govia Thameslink)

I wondered is anyone could give me a brief idea of what the day to day routine is for a trainee and for a qualified driver. So for example my understanding is the average shift is about 9 hours so would a driver be driving up and down the same route all day or would he/she drive a route get to the end of the route than use a different route?

Thanks in advance

Alex

Hi mate, curious to know where your applying for southern as I can’t find anything up for trainees at moment. Looking for a mate...

 

[Tomnick]

Hi everyone im new here I have been looking through a few posts over the last few days. I am applying for a trainee driver roll for Southern Rail (Govia Thameslink)

I wondered is anyone could give me a brief idea of what the day to day routine is for a trainee and for a qualified driver. So for example my understanding is the average shift is about 9 hours so would a driver be driving up and down the same route all day or would he/she drive a route get to the end of the route than use a different route?

Thanks in advance

Alex

It's worth having a read through this excellent thread from a trainee driver's point of view, albeit for a different TOC.

Out covering jobs, though - they vary wildly, even within a single depot. We (also not Southern) have some jobs that see you on the same relatively short (about an hour one way) route all day. We have other jobs where you'd do a round trip on one route, back to your home depot for a break, then back out on a different route. Some jobs see you out and about all day without going back to your home depot until the end, some just out and back on a longer route and some more complex. Other depots have less variety so you're more likely to end up on the same route all day. Some depots have only long distance work where you can't get much more than a single round trip in anyway.

Our trainees now tend to go into a training link (covering a smaller selection of routes) with their mentor whilst they're getting their hours in, so for the most part their working days are little different to what they'll be like when they're out on their own.

 

[TBDDesiro]

Hi mate, curious to know where your applying for southern as I can’t find anything up for trainees at moment. Looking for a mate...

Be interested to know too! As nothing on the GTR careers site.

 

[Juliet Barvo]

Woke up, fell out of bed, Dragged a comb across my head, Found my way downstairs and drank a cup

Checked my emails, looking for the Low Adhesion report. Somebody slid through a station in the last few days, make a mental note of that known low adhesion site and will have a lower target speed before it and brake earlier and harder so the Wheel Slide Protection will kick in.

Know what my booking on time is, keep and eye on the traffic and the predicted journey time (thanks Google Maps) set off to park up and get in 20minutes early. Make sure my bag's packed and my lunch is ready.
Get in, check the notices, Late Notices, SPADs notices, five week notices. Speak to control, there's disruption and my diagram is all changed because of it (diagram is the name for my schedule, what stations I'm calling at, what units I'm preparing or just getting in and going) Go into the mess room and wait for my round because of the disruption. Go to my train in good time. Get in the cab and set it up. Make PA's at the platform, and check my diagram for my next stop and when it's time to go, Check signal, make sure the doors are clear and close doors, check Interlock Light (when the doors are proven to be closed and locked, the Interlock light illuminates and you can take power) check signal and take power whilst checking the area between the train and the platform to make sure I'm not dragging anybody. Press the AWS acknowledge and call out the signal colour on restrictive aspects. Get to my target speed, brake at my braking points, try to stop within a meter of the stopboard on the platform. Rinse and repeat. Do the rounds and go home.