Amount of Driver Route Knowledge?

[PaulMac]

Hi everyone. How much route knowledge is expected of drivers where you are?

In my case, I have the option of two passenger train rosters. The first involves mastering five intercity lines (double-track, fast, high signal density, many junctions) with a total of around 350 miles. You’re home every night.

The second roster involves long-distance services with at least one weekly overnight at the destination - on top of regular intercity running. Long-distance lines are generally single-track with few junctions or signals. This roster has a total mileage of around 1000 miles.

How does that compare where you work?

 

[transportphoto]

You’d probably be able to get a good gist from the master thread which details which depot signs what. (That being said, the thread doesn’t give a link-by-link break down which will cause the variance such as what you describe.)

 

[PaulMac]

Thanks! I’ll give that a go. This stuff is (mildly) interesting to me on a professional level. In my region, non-drivers often see us as coddled and overpaid - yet we’re expected to digest what feels like quite a chunk of route knowledge/

 

[12LDA28C]

Thanks! I’ll give that a go. This stuff is (mildly) interesting to me on a professional level. In my region, non-drivers often see us as coddled and overpaid - yet we’re expected to digest what feels like quite a chunk of route knowledge/

Where is your region? You haven’t said.
In the UK a driver generally won’t get a choice of rosters. They’ll go in the link and only sign the routes and traction applicable to that link.

 

[PaulMac]

I’m abroad - let’s leave it at that. We’re on the equivalent of £100,000+ a year working five days a week, seven hours a day. It’s a source of some resentment among lower-tier managers.

I was especially curious about the UK given the density of lines and running frequency. I thought perhaps an Edinburgh driver might bring in a train to London, spend the night there, then drive back the next day.

 

[AverageJoe]

I’m abroad - let’s leave it at that. We’re on the equivalent of £100,000+ a year working five days a week, seven hours a day. It’s a source of some resentment among lower-tier managers.

I was especially curious about the UK given the density of lines and running frequency. I thought perhaps an Edinburgh driver might bring in a train to London, spend the night there, then drive back the next day.

I would like to work at your place

 

[PaulMac]

I would like to work at your place

Lots of interviews and Vienna testing - but well worth it in the end!

Twenty years ago, the company switched from two drivers and a guard per service to a single driver. So they effectively doubled our wages yet still saved money.

Route knowledge is a huge component of the job, of course, hence my initial query.

 

[driver9000]

I was especially curious about the UK given the density of lines and running frequency. I thought perhaps an Edinburgh driver might bring in a train to London, spend the night there, then drive back the next day.

It depends on the company but an Edinburgh Driver wouldn't work to London. For Avanti they would work as far as Preston, LNER would work to Newcastle and Cross Country would work as far as Leeds.

A UK based Driver is expected to have a very detailed knowledge of the route learned off by heart and assessed on that knowledge before being allowed to drive over it alone. We call it "signing the road" and at my company which is classed as an Intercity operator my depots route knowledge is around 350 miles plus shunting movements at various locations.

 

[PaulMac]

It depends on the company but an Edinburgh Driver wouldn't work to London. For Avanti they would work as far as Preston, LNER would work to Newcastle and Cross Country would work as far as Leeds.

A UK based Driver is expected to have a very detailed knowledge of the route learned off by heart and assessed on that knowledge before being allowed to drive over it alone. We call it "signing the road" and at my company which is classed as an Intercity operator my depots route knowledge is around 350 miles plus shunting movements at various locations.

That’s interesting. Thanks. For long distances (4+ hours) we sometimes have reciprocating overnighters. So, if it were the UK, a London driver would overnight in Edinburgh and an Edinburgh driver would overnight in London.

I always found sidings the trickiest. You might be shown one - at a distance and cursorily - during training, then five years later you’re expected to recall every detail during an unplanned shunt.