Assessments & Medicals discussion

[PlayedRex]

No, they passed me as "fit to drive trains" but had a little moan about too much meat, to few vegetables and too much beer. I've never failed a medical, by subsequent ones, I meant just the other periodic medicals (once every three years until you're 50(?), then it goes to yearly). Also, you'll have an ECG for your pre-employment medical, but only have these at periodic medicals thereafter if you're over 40.

Comparatively, SWR (I've now moved across to them) were a breath of fresh air and weren't bothered in the slightest about BMI.

Ah ok thank you for clarifying, gives me a bit more piece of mind!

 

[offtherails174]

You can always ask for them to calculate your healthy weight using the hip to waist ratio. I’m quite short and stocky and my BMI comes out as morbidly obese always… hip to waist is a better method.

 

[Tommy1414]

Hi, well done on passing yours. Was this the MMI? If so, were the questions that were suggested to you on the forum the same as what you got asked at your MMI? I have my assessment centre soon and there is a chance the MMI will be on the same day.

Thanks. Yes they were pretty much the same! Your MMI will be after the tests if you pass them all and make it to the end. Good luck!!

 

[ekn2020]

evening all, I have my DMI for Southern next week.. any tips/guidance would be greatly appreciated!

Also, I have not yet sat my SJE and MMI? I thought that came before DMI? My assessment results expire next year, so have they bypassed this stage? Does anyone know anything regarding this? Thank you in advance!

 

[Stigy]

evening all, I have my DMI for Southern next week.. any tips/guidance would be greatly appreciated!

Also, I have not yet sat my SJE and MMI? I thought that came before DMI? My assessment results expire next year, so have they bypassed this stage? Does anyone know anything regarding this? Thank you in advance!

Some companies (southern being one), do the DMI before the MMI. There’s no set order it has to be done, just generally more logical to do all psychometrics before the DMI.

 

[newbiewannabe]

evening all, I have my DMI for Southern next week.. any tips/guidance would be greatly appreciated!

Also, I have not yet sat my SJE and MMI? I thought that came before DMI? My assessment results expire next year, so have they bypassed this stage? Does anyone know anything regarding this? Thank you in advance!

How long were you waiting between assessments and DMI invite? Aren’t assessment pass valid for 5 years?

 

[ekn2020]

My assessment centre was last month and interview upcoming, so only a month. I only had to do part of the assessment as the tests I passed 4 years ago are still valid

 

[Tommy1414]

My assessment centre was last month and interview upcoming, so only a month. I only had to do part of the assessment as the tests I passed 4 years ago are still valid

What parts did you need to do?

 

[TerryTibbs]

.

 

[PlayedRex]

I have a trainee driver assessment at the very end of December. I am looking to chat to people who have already done it and can remember exactly how some of the tests went. No speculation please. Feel free to DM me if you can discuss in detail.

In particular:

TEA-Occ
-How is the directory part done, I see people saying just look for symbol pairs and ignore the plumber category and text etc. but giving no reason as to why the symbol pairs are always the correct answer. Couldn’t that lead me to selecting symbol pairs that are not plumbers?
-What is the exact question are you asked at the beginning to tell you what to look for and circle?
-A hand drawing of how the test looks would be ideal for me to get my head around this one as I feel it is different from practice stuff I can find online.
-How much time do you have after the last beep to finish searching?

TRP 1b
-What can you remember about the text you were given, what it was about and the exact questions on it you were asked? I need as much detail as possible on this one.
-Is it just the one passage of text?
-Has anyone got example passages and questions for this?

TRP 2
-Training material says cables and dials which is obviously different from the practice material. Does anyone have a detailed explanation or could do a hand drawing of how this looks?
-Are these physical dials and cables or is this a paper test?

In regards to the TEAocc the list you get will only have plumbers/whatever catagory it is that day. So you don’t need to worry about the contents of the listing but rather just circling the double symbols along with counting the tones.

 

[traintee]

Managed to pass my MMI on my second (and last) attempt. Just want to say a heartfelt thank you to anyone on here who has ever taken the time to post anything to help others out. I couldn't of done it without the help of countless people on these forums. And for anyone who's in the same boat never give up, I wasn't confident at all going in second time but I did prepare the best I could, gave it 110% and just goes to show you can still achieve things even if you doubt yourself like me. Fingers crossed for the rest of the process.

 

[Mr Francis]

Managed to pass my MMI on my second (and last) attempt. Just want to say a heartfelt thank you to anyone on here who has ever taken the time to post anything to help others out. I couldn't of done it without the help of countless people on these forums. And for anyone who's in the same boat never give up, I wasn't confident at all going in second time but I did prepare the best I could, gave it 110% and just goes to show you can still achieve things even if you doubt yourself like me. Fingers crossed for the rest of the process.

Congratulations

 

[ekn2020]

What parts did you need to do?

Just the memorability test, Trp 1b/2

 

[mr_ixolite]

Does anyone have any insight into how vertigo is viewed on a medical? Currently applying for a trainee driver position and have passed the initial sift and waiting on results from first tests, but I had a bad case of hearing loss and vertigo in 2016 which lasted most of the year on and off, this was diagnosed as menieres disease and I was treated with a steroid injection through my eardrum in September 2016, since that day or shortly after at least my hearing returned to normal and I had no more vertigo attacks at all, I booked another appt with my consultant Jan 24 to question the menieres diagnosis as my experience did not fit the pattern of the disease (degenerative, no cure, permanent hearing impairment) and he agreed that the original diagnosis was possibly incorrect, my medical records now reflect this and so far so good I thought, knew it would be picked up on a medical but thought between being 9 years free of attacks and my consultant agreeing that the diagnosis may have been incorrect it was probably still worth a shot, fast forward to Wednesday this week and completely without warning I had another vertigo attack, same ear, slightly different symptoms but basically the same as 2016, I'm back at the hospital Monday so will see what consultant thinks, might just be an infection or something but how will all this look during a medical assuming I get that far? I knew it might be a tough sell before but I'm thinking this might just completely kybosh things

 

[Defined Rail]

Hi everyone, looking for some advice about my situation.

I recently completed a 5-week Level 2 NVQ Railway Engineering course with a guaranteed interview with our sponser. At the end of it I received my ICI, BTA (which i think is listed as LU IND on my sentinel) & PPE, however I wasn't offered the interview from our sponsor (TrackWork Limited) after reaching out or for any other company, and also goes for everyone that was in my class, most of which I'm still in contact with. So what my classmates are doing now is trying to pay to do a PTS test and a couple of them paying to do ULEC & EURS certs to try and break in (although not entirely sure what those certs are.)

What I've decided to do is enrol onto another funded 5-week course for a PTS. The plan is to finish the training, most importantly get my Drugs & Alcohol, Medical & PTS certification, and hope that puts me in a position where a company will actually take me onboard.

For those of you already in the industry or familiar with track work companies, what do you think of my prospects? Does this route make sense, or am I wasting my time with these courses?

Any honest guidance would help. ty.

 

[LNEREDI]

How stringent is the medical for Train Manager roles? I’m awaiting the medical for a recent role I’ve been offered but I’m worried about an issue I have with my left eye. It’s difficult to explain but I can’t read anything however there’s nothing wrong with my depth/perception. I can see things as normal but without being able to actually read anything. It can’t be corrected with glasses it goes back to an issue I had with my eye when I was born. Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[Horizon22]

How stringent is the medical for Train Manager roles? I’m awaiting the medical for a recent role I’ve been offered but I’m worried about an issue I have with my left eye. It’s difficult to explain but I can’t read anything however there’s nothing wrong with my depth/perception. I can see things as normal but without being able to actually read anything. It can’t be corrected with glasses it goes back to an issue I had with my eye when I was born. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Normally vision is tested with a standard Snellen chart from various distances, but the amount is normally quite generous. I don't believe they test eyes individually. A Train Manager would be a full safety critical medical. You've been somewhat vague about it though so it's hard to know what the outcome would be.

 

[Tubelines1973]

Normally vision is tested with a standard Snellen chart from various distances, but the amount is normally quite generous. I don't believe they test eyes individually. A Train Manager would be a full safety critical medical. You've been somewhat vague about it though so it's hard to know what the outcome would be.

i believe on the London underground they do test individual eyes and are quite strict, more stringent then doing the sight test on a driving car exam.

 

[Horizon22]

i believe on the London underground they do test individual eyes and are quite strict, more stringent then doing the sight test on a driving car exam.

They may do for NR and TOCs too, but I cannot recall.

 

[LNEREDI]

Normally vision is tested with a standard Snellen chart from various distances, but the amount is normally quite generous. I don't believe they test eyes individually. A Train Manager would be a full safety critical medical. You've been somewhat vague about it though so it's hard to know what the outcome would be.

Yeah, sorry I don’t mean to be vague. It’s difficult to explain what I can/can’t see. I’m not blind in the eye, there’s no blurriness, shadows, anything like that. I just can’t read if I cover my “good eye”. I could probably just about make out the biggest letter on a Snellen chart but that’s it. If it’s done on each eye individually then I’d probably be a bit panicky about it.

 

[redjj]

Absolutely gutted to fail my DMI this week. I left it knowing with that gut feeling.

Does failing a DMI count as one of your strikes?

This is my first time through the process and have not failed any other assessments.

And I’ve seen mixed responses to the next question…

I can’t reapply for a minimum of 6 months to the company… is that specific to Thameslink or GTR?
(Can I apply to Southern?)

Many thanks

 

[baker_06]

Absolutely gutted to fail my DMI this week. I left it knowing with that gut feeling.

Does failing a DMI count as one of your strikes?

This is my first time through the process and have not failed any other assessments.

And I’ve seen mixed responses to the next question…

I can’t reapply for a minimum of 6 months to the company… is that specific to Thameslink or GTR?
(Can I apply to Southern?)

Many thanks

DMI doesn’t count as one of your two/three strikes

 

[TerryTibbs]

.

 

[mld]

Has anyone got some information on the TRP-1b test?

How long do you have to read it / make notes and does that time start when it is started to be read allowed or afterwards?

Also does anyone have any knowledge from your past test experiences as to the specific text passages used and questions asked?

Would also appreciate it if anyone has any mocks for the trp-1b.

You asked a very similar, in depth question a few days ago wanting specifics on the tests. There is plenty of help on this forum in regards to the tests but the likelihood of people telling you what the passage is about and what questions they ask is very slim. It’s a competitive role to get and you have to do your own research for the best head start. With all due respect it very much sounds like you want people to tell you the answers and put in very little effort yourself (other than writing huge paragraphs asking for super specific details)

 

[Dragon88]

Anyone know what the medical is like for a train manager for Chiltern? And is being on a low dose of Sertraline for current job related Anxiety/Burnout/Stress an impact factor?

 

[traintee]

It's a full medical for TM, you provide them a sample, do eyesight, hearing and go through some general questions from what I remember. Don't make the mistake I did and relieve yourself in the waiting room... As for the sertraline that is something only the medical team can answer.

 

[Trainset33]

Quick question regarding the ATAVT. Do zebra crossings count as road signs? The ones with a lollipop on either side of the road? The practice materials I’ve got have them in it. Not even sure if the real thing does, be good to know if they do count. I’m assuming yes as I type this tbh, as they indicate to drivers that they have to stop.

 

[Unobrow]

Quick question regarding the ATAVT. Do zebra crossings count as road signs? The ones with a lollipop on either side of the road? The practice materials I’ve got have them in it. Not even sure if the real thing does, be good to know if they do count. I’m assuming yes as I type this tbh, as they indicate to drivers that they have to stop.

I can’t remember how I answered that on mine, but I’d say they aren’t a road sign and the Belishas’ don’t indicate for drivers to stop. The rule is that traffic must stop once a pedestrian is on the crossing, not to the flashing amber light.

 

[will1989]

Quick question regarding the ATAVT. Do zebra crossings count as road signs? The ones with a lollipop on either side of the road? The practice materials I’ve got have them in it. Not even sure if the real thing does, be good to know if they do count. I’m assuming yes as I type this tbh, as they indicate to drivers that they have to stop.

I don't think anyone knows definitively but I'd say you're thinking too much into it. It's street furniture, yes, but to call them road signs is a bit of a stretch IMO.

 

[Trainset33]

I don't think anyone knows definitively but I'd say you're thinking too much into it. It's street furniture, yes, but to call them road signs is a bit of a stretch IMO.

Ok, I probably am thinking too much into it. Thanks

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 1 Dec 2025 ==

I can’t remember how I answered that on mine, but I’d say they aren’t a road sign and the Belishas’ don’t indicate for drivers to stop. The rule is that traffic must stop once a pedestrian is on the crossing, not to the flashing amber light.

Ok thank you