A career dealing with train allocations in the rail industry

[kemal]

Afternoon

I have a very good knowledge of railways with locos and units. I would be interested to know what skills or training would be required in dealing
with train allocation data as a job please?

Thanks
Kemal Ali

 

[Watershed]

Like most jobs on the railway, all the required training would be provided on joining. Whilst there's certainly no harm in bringing knowledge of different locos/units etc., ultimately there are going to be many other important factors that go into the recruitment decisions. So having this knowledge doesn't in any way guarantee you a job, I'm afraid.

By all means put in some applications when jobs get advertised, but having experience of working shifts, communicating well, working under pressure etc. are going to be what they are likely looking for.

 

[MiNi]

In my experience knowing how the rail runs and it's operating Loco s and stock will not make any difference. Experience in customer service,safety scenarios et c will be more of an advantage that anything. They will probably look at you as a spotter if you led with your train knowledge.

 

[uww11x]

Having an interest in the railway is a big tick in the box for one of these positions. You need to have attention to detail and the ability to make decisions under pressure. (Your last available loco fails on a train 200 miles away from the nearest depot, what do you do?) The actually art of allocation will be taught to you as different organisations have varying reasons for how and why they allocate stuff. You always need to be thinking of the bigger picture and what the implications to the train plan your decision makes.

 

[irish_rail]

I think these tend to be popular positions and people get promoted from within into these types of roles, could be wrong though.

 

[FGW_DID]

Afternoon

I have a very good knowledge of railways with locos and units. I would be interested to know what skills or training would be required in dealing
with train allocation data as a job please?

Thanks
Kemal Ali

Is there a particular role / position with a TOC you have in mind or have applied for? All good points made above.

 

[Bow Fell]

I’d say the job most suited is a Train Service/Running Controller

It’s the most rewarding job I’ve ever done.

A unit will have for example 5000 miles between exam, it’s your job and to work with the depot to ensure that unit is delivered for exam within that threshold. There’s no ifs or buts, you do it or you lose the unit and have cancellations.

This will be through cycling the unit between diagrams naturally, or coming up with stabling/amended plans to ensure the unit starts and finishes in the correct place.

Add in service disruption and you not only have the job of putting the train service back together but ensure the unit doesn’t end up somewhere where you don’t want it or it will run out of miles and end up “stopped”. It’s a fine balance between running a train service and delivering a fleet maintenance plan, sometimes the latter wins more often the not.

Add in requests for the depot for other maintenance and ensuring the unit is washed frequently and has a Periodic Heavy Clean or even fuel then there’s a lot of things to juggle.

Pressure?! Of course there is, it’s a very, very high pressure job, but when that phone rings, bring it on is what I say.

It’s the best job in the world, but that’s just my opinion.

 

[irish_rail]

I’d say the job most suited is a Train Service/Running Controller

It’s the most rewarding job I’ve ever done.

A unit will have for example 5000 miles between exam, it’s your job and to work with the depot to ensure that unit is delivered for exam within that threshold. There’s no ifs or buts, you do it or you lose the unit and have cancellations.

This will be through cycling the unit between diagrams naturally, or coming up with stabling/amended plans to ensure the unit starts and finishes in the correct place.

Add in service disruption and you not only have the job of putting the train service back together but ensure the unit doesn’t end up somewhere where you don’t want it or it will run out of miles and end up “stopped”. It’s a fine balance between running a train service and delivering a fleet maintenance plan, sometimes the latter wins more often the not.

Add in requests for the depot for other maintenance and ensuring the unit is washed frequently and has a Periodic Heavy Clean or even fuel then there’s a lot of things to juggle.

Pressure?! Of course there is, it’s a very, very high pressure job, but when that phone rings, bring it on is what I say.

It’s the best job in the world, but that’s just my opinion.

Must admit it does sound an interesting role, and I think that's why it isnt generally open at entry level

 

[Andyjs247]

Operational Planner is a good place to start