A career as a signaller

[Domenico]

Hi All

I recently applied for a Signaller G9 Role and have passed the initial online tests and online interview.

I’m now onto step 3 ‘assessment centre’ and my account states: “Congratulations, you've met the required standard for an interview!” but it also implies that spaces go very quickly and aren’t always guaranteed, so to act quick when offered.

When I first read through some of this forum, I noticed a lot of people 'passing' but not getting to the next stage for one reason or other, but it's not always clear what stage this applies to.

So now that I've passed stage 2, am I guaranteed to get to stage 3 and attend an assessment centre (providing I'm on the ball to get it booked)? (I know for certain after stage 3, there's a chance you impress and have what it takes, but don't actually get further due to volume/location).

Or is there a chance that despite passing stage 2, I could be unfortunate and not actually get the chance to attend an assessment centre/interview now?

Also, just as a side note, for a G9 assessment centre, what can I expect? Is it just an interview to cover the 8 competencies and a few less formal questions, or is there more to it? E.g. tests etc.

Appreciate any info

Any uptade? Where did you applied for?

 

[Slow Seline]

Hi everyone

I‘ve just passed the video interview for a G9 Signaller at Glasgow, and am now waiting for an Assessment Centre interview.

Can anyone tell me where they’re most likely to do this - as in, would it be at the WSSC, or a training depot?

Also, I’ve been in the RPS pension scheme for almost ten years now. If successful, would I have the chance to transfer that over straight away, or would I have to wait 5 years in any new signalling job before being offered the chance?

 

[railfan99]

In mid 2025, how many operating signalboxes remained in England, and separately, Scotland and Wales?

There were c.850 when this thread commenced nine years ago.

 

[Trothy]

Hi everyone

I‘ve just passed the video interview for a G9 Signaller at Glasgow, and am now waiting for an Assessment Centre interview.

Can anyone tell me where they’re most likely to do this - as in, would it be at the WSSC, or a training depot?

Also, I’ve been in the RPS pension scheme for almost ten years now. If successful, would I have the chance to transfer that over straight away, or would I have to wait 5 years in any new signalling job before being offered the chance?

You should be eligible to join right away. See this page of the NR pension site.

Joining the RPS - NR Pension

 

[Slow Seline]

You should be eligible to join right away. See this page of the NR pension site.

Joining the RPS - NR Pension

Thanks for that, much appreciated.

 

[Ib5]

Thanks for that, much appreciated.

As your already in the scheme, you can if you wish join / transfer into the NWR section on day one - there is no requirement to wait the five years a fresh non RPS person does.

 

[Slow Seline]

As your already in the scheme, you can if you wish join / transfer into the NWR section on day one - there is no requirement to wait the five years a fresh non RPS person does.

Excellent, thanks.

 

[muz379]

Hi everyone

I‘ve just passed the video interview for a G9 Signaller at Glasgow, and am now waiting for an Assessment Centre interview.

Can anyone tell me where they’re most likely to do this - as in, would it be at the WSSC, or a training depot?

Also, I’ve been in the RPS pension scheme for almost ten years now. If successful, would I have the chance to transfer that over straight away, or would I have to wait 5 years in any new signalling job before being offered the chance?

Firstly congratulations , and good look at the assessment centre .

Secondly joining the RPS at Network rail and transferring over are two seperate things .

You should be elgible to join RPS straight away at network rail if you leave your current employer and start at NWR within a month , you should get the forms to do this with your contract / other paperwork when you recieve the formal offer

But Joining the RPS at Network rail doesn't transfer your existing benefits from your current part of the RPS over , your benefits in your current section would remain preserved until retirement .

You can transfer your current membership into the Network rail section if you wish , and once you have joined the NWR section can get the figures for how much your existing scheme membership will buy you in the NWR section . But generally this will be cost neutral to RPS .

But I would if possible speak to someone knowledgable on pensions before doing that because without giving advice there could also be benefits to leaving your preserved pension in the current section. For instance if your current sections normal retirement age is younger , the normal retirement age in the NWR section is 65 for new joiners . Having two seperate sections can also give a bit of flexibility closer to retirement , for instance you could take your preserved benefits and continue working and building up benefits in the Network rail section .

 

[Slow Seline]

Great, thanks for the information. I’ll follow that up if lucky enough to be offered a positon.

 

[Ib5]

Firstly congratulations , and good look at the assessment centre .

Secondly joining the RPS at Network rail and transferring over are two seperate things .

You should be elgible to join RPS straight away at network rail if you leave your current employer and start at NWR within a month , you should get the forms to do this with your contract / other paperwork when you recieve the formal offer

But Joining the RPS at Network rail doesn't transfer your existing benefits from your current part of the RPS over , your benefits in your current section would remain preserved until retirement .

You can transfer your current membership into the Network rail section if you wish , and once you have joined the NWR section can get the figures for how much your existing scheme membership will buy you in the NWR section . But generally this will be cost neutral to RPS .

But I would if possible speak to someone knowledgable on pensions before doing that because without giving advice there could also be benefits to leaving your preserved pension in the current section. For instance if your current sections normal retirement age is younger , the normal retirement age in the NWR section is 65 for new joiners . Having two seperate sections can also give a bit of flexibility closer to retirement , for instance you could take your preserved benefits and continue working and building up benefits in the Network rail section .

Where does your preserved benefits show ? My statements only show my network rail section and not my previous sections preserved benefits ?

Cheers

 

[muz379]

Where does your preserved benefits show ? My statements only show my network rail section and not my previous sections preserved benefits ?

Cheers

You should get seperate benefit statements for your NWR section and previous preserved benefits , if you haven't been doing I'd ring RPS to query it could it be that youve changed address or something and not updaed your old section ?

 

[Ib5]

You should get seperate benefit statements for your NWR section and previous preserved benefits , if you haven't been doing I'd ring RPS to query it could it be that youve changed address or something and not updaed your old section ?

That’s what I thought, I’ll give them a ring next week thanks much appreciated.

 

[keepscoutting]

Hi everyone

I‘ve just passed the video interview for a G9 Signaller at Glasgow, and am now waiting for an Assessment Centre interview.

Can anyone tell me where they’re most likely to do this - as in, would it be at the WSSC, or a training depot?

Also, I’ve been in the RPS pension scheme for almost ten years now. If successful, would I have the chance to transfer that over straight away, or would I have to wait 5 years in any new signalling job before being offered the chance?

Hi, I am at same position waiting for the assessment centre interview. No update yet but hopefully will hear something soon.

 

[AshleySig]

LOM came back and said that this was correct and there is no option to stay overnight on the sunday. So that is that then. But if when I am in attendance at the course there are others who have been offered sunday Accom, Should I raise this with them again?

Just an observation, all employees received an email recently on regards to remaining budget and the first thing my manager said was they'll chop the Sunday travel to save money. Simple as that

 

[Cardiff22]

Hi everyone, is there many vaccines that come up for cardiff internally I’ve been looking for a while as someone who’s external but only seen one come up in about a 18 months. I had passed all stages but didn’t get an assessment centre date. Would it be better looking at other roles in NR and then maybe look to move to a signaller role after a few years experience in that role? Any help is much appreciated!

 

[Domo]

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 2 Jul 2025 ==


Contracts probably won't be updated until after July's wage when we get the new wage and back pay

Hey guys, saw the paysheet and was curious, what work does grade 10 - control 1 do and why dont they list them on the national rail website? I kinda assumed grade 9 was the highest possible from what national rail had up.

Also secondly do all signaller postings for England get put on the national rail site or do I need to go around shopping other places?

Thanks for any replies!

 

[railtrainsandt]

Hi do uno what the training centre is like, what does it have ? Rooms etc pls lmk

 

[SimplyLovely]

Hey guys, saw the paysheet and was curious, what work does grade 10 - control 1 do and why dont they list them on the national rail website? I kinda assumed grade 9 was the highest possible from what national rail had up.

Also secondly do all signaller postings for England get put on the national rail site or do I need to go around shopping other places?

Thanks for any replies!

Firstly it would be helpful to know the name of the place you’re applying to, it’s Network Rail, not National Rail

Secondly I think it’s only some shift manager positions that will be grade 10 as far as signallers go, which is what it sounds like, just supervising other signallers in a centre.

As for what controllers do, based on my personal experiences the past couple of weeks….annoy signallers lol

 

[Domo]

Firstly it would be helpful to know the name of the place you’re applying to, it’s Network Rail, not National Rail

Secondly I think it’s only some shift manager positions that will be grade 10 as far as signallers go, which is what it sounds like, just supervising other signallers in a centre.

As for what controllers do, based on my personal experiences the past couple of weeks….annoy signallers lol

They both begin with N and end in rail just got a bit confused lol.

thanks for the answers anyway,

assuming if grade 10 signallers are managers then controllers are just higher level managers from the sounds of it?

 

[Trothy]

Signaller roles are graded 2 to 9.

Grade 10 is reserved for Shift Signalling Managers who supervise signallers on a day to day basis, within a PSB or a ROC.

Controllers grade 1 - 4, with 4 being the lowest and 1 being the highest are also operational roles, dealing with train running, operational incidents etc.

The management of all the above roles usually falls to a Local Operations Manager (LOM)

Controller/SSM roles rarely if ever appear on the external vacancy list as they're usually recruited from existing Signallers/MOMs/LOM's

 

[High Dyke]

@railtrainsandt

Sorry, I've never been in the current Derby location. I did my training in different facilities there.

 

[muz379]

Grade 10 is reserved for Shift Signalling Managers who supervise signallers on a day to day basis, within a PSB or a ROC.

Also just to add not every Shift Signalling Manager post is a G10 either . You see grade 9's .

Also whilst day to day duties won't involve them directly signalling trains , SSM's do maintain their signalling competency .

 

[zoinator]

Hi everyone, I'm new to the forum but I've just accepted a role as signaller at network rail and start IST in york October!

Im just wondering if anyone has any opinions on which pension scheme is best for someone coming in off the street to network rail - there's 3 options so I'm just looking at sources of info to help me decide which one to go for

Thanks in advance! Very excited to be part of network rail - never done anything like it before!

 

[Trothy]

Im just wondering if anyone has any opinions on which pension scheme is best for someone coming in off the street to network rail - there's 3 options so I'm just looking at sources of info to help me decide which one to go for

Not a financial advisor so take with grain of salt, but basically CARE is considered the better of the initial two, and after 5 year qualifying period consider the switch to RPS.

 

[zoinator]

Not a financial advisor so take with grain of salt, but basically CARE is considered the better of the initial two, and after 5 year qualifying period consider the switch to RPS.

Thanks so much! Ill keep that in mind

 

[railwayman23]

Hi all

I've applied for a G2 signaller role at Three bridges and have a face to face assessment centre coming up soon. Just wanted to see if anyone could give me a bit more insight of what I should expect? I've applied before and had remote assessment centres but never a face to face one and when speaking with recruitment they have mentioned about having to do a presentation and from looking into the portal there is no mention of this and they are adamant that it is within the candidate portal. Just wanted to know what to expect in the face to face assessment and if a presentation is something that is required? Thank you in advance

Hello,
I have an interview coming up soon. I have to also give a presentation. Can you provide an insight regarding this? Any help will be appreciated.

 

[bouff34]

Not a financial advisor so take with grain of salt, but basically CARE is considered the better of the initial two, and after 5 year qualifying period consider the switch to RPS.

Agreed, CARE definitely as initial choice. Personally, I would stick with that even at five years - the RPS scheme isn't the automatic go to anymore and for most people CARE will remain the better choice... There is a really good Facebook group which can answer all your questions if you want to look at it in more detail once you have started... (this is not financial advice blah blah blah!)

 

[zoinator]

Agreed, CARE definitely as initial choice. Personally, I would stick with that even at five years - the RPS scheme isn't the automatic go to anymore and for most people CARE will remain the better choice... There is a really good Facebook group which can answer all your questions if you want to look at it in more detail once you have started... (this is not financial advice blah blah blah!)

Thank you so much for the advice - I'll definitely give the Facebook group a look once I start appreciate it!

 

[MylesHSG]

Doe

Agreed, CARE definitely as initial choice. Personally, I would stick with that even at five years - the RPS scheme isn't the automatic go to anymore and for most people CARE will remain the better choice... There is a really good Facebook group which can answer all your questions if you want to look at it in more detail once you have started... (this is not financial advice blah blah blah!)

Isn't CARE still whole career average and RPS takes the best 3 years from your last 10 years?

 

[bouff34]

Doe

Isn't CARE still whole career average and RPS takes the best 3 years from your last 10 years?

Don't want to go too off topic but some RPS pay rises are capped in regard of your final pension. Any promotions are subject to restructuring (i.e. get promoted with five years to go and it won't increase your pension for any service you already have, only for your remaining service). Plus RPS final pension is less a reduction for the Basic State pension...

I am not an expert on this but the 'UK Railways Pensions Members Forum' on Facebook contains a number of real experts who can answer anything and everything about the various options. I'm just saying that RPS isn't the automatic go-to if your are at Network Rail anymore.