Career path

[Major14]

Any advice on which rail industry jobs (Network Rail or TOC) give you the best knowledge & experience to go on to become a train driver?

 

[EM2]

I know two people who have recently qualified as drivers (one SE, one GTR) who both started as Network Rail station customer service assistants, if that helps at all.

 

[Lrd]

Anything to do customer service will give you a good start. So anything like; ticket office, gateline, platform, revenue protection, catering etc.

 

[Major14]

Cheers

 

[E&W Lucas]

Anything to do customer service will give you a good start. So anything like; ticket office, gateline, platform, revenue protection, catering etc.

Not really
Drivers spend multiple hours alone. Not the ideal career for bubbly customer facing types.
Many, many drivers come directly into the industry from the outside world. The training programme requires zero industry experience. Transferable skills from your existing work are more important. Those required have been listed on this site many, many times.

 

[Major14]

Interesting, two different perspectives. I have the transferable skills but no experience of working in the rail industry. I just wondered if my best chance would be to get some rail experience, but I wasn't sure what the best job would be to give me the edge over other candidates who haven't.

 

[Lrd]

Not really
Drivers spend multiple hours alone. Not the ideal career for bubbly customer facing types.
Many, many drivers come directly into the industry from the outside world. The training programme requires zero industry experience. Transferable skills from your existing work are more important. Those required have been listed on this site many, many times.

I did mention that it 'would be a good start', this is because more and more TOCs are looking for people with good customer service skills.

I agree with everything else though, they provide all the training that you need to be successful in the role so gaining railway experience isn't needed to become a driver.
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Interesting, two different perspectives. I have the transferable skills but no experience of working in the rail industry. I just wondered if my best chance would be to get some rail experience, but I wasn't sure what the best job would be to give me the edge over other candidates who haven't.

If you have any form of experience in dealing with customers, working alone, problem solving, following strict rules and procedures or working unsociable hours then you will have a good chance at becoming a driver.

You don't necessarily need to work on the railway to get those skills. I started as a bus driver for example (as did quite a few others that I know of) and went straight into train driver.

 

[red2005]

Not really
Drivers spend multiple hours alone. Not the ideal career for bubbly customer facing types.
Many, many drivers come directly into the industry from the outside world. The training programme requires zero industry experience. Transferable skills from your existing work are more important. Those required have been listed on this site many, many times.

Slightly disagree with that one. Yes there's no real requirements to have a background from within the industry HOWEVER.......These days the companies are all over the customer service elements of the job.

And we've got plenty of drivers who are ex guards and very bubbly types.....me included!!!! Ha!!!!!!

Some of the guys at our place I've spoke to who didn't get through the interview had feedback stating they didn't focus on the customer service side of the job. Most companies now want to venture away from the old ways where a driver had very little to do with the public.

I'd advise anyone going to interview to kick the backside out of any customer service experience they have.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Interesting, two different perspectives. I have the transferable skills but no experience of working in the rail industry. I just wondered if my best chance would be to get some rail experience, but I wasn't sure what the best job would be to give me the edge over other candidates who haven't.

Having little or no railway experience isn't the be all end all mate.....we had a gas fitter and care worker on our course whilst existing staff such as guards etc didn't get passed the paper sift.

Your previous employment is just a small part of the content that's required to get through the application. Remember train driving is drastically different to every other role even within the industry so being the right person personality wise is just as important as previous roles you may have done.

Don't get me wrong, working railway shifts and working with the public within a safety critical role CERTAINLY won't do your application any harm that's for sure......on a personal level I firmly believe I wouldn't of become a driver without my time as a guard but that's just me.

If there's other roles such as guards available first I'd seriously think about it.

 

[Major14]

Thank you, I'll see how my applications go for driver jobs initially. If no joy then applying to be a guard will most likely be my next step. Albeit I wondered about applying to a Signaller but I'm not sure if I'd enjoy it as much as being out in the muck and bullets so to speak!