Chiltern - Apprentice Train Driver - Recruitment Discussion

[ramsy12]

yes these all are paper based, group bourdon is finding 4 dots on a paper having 5 parts each part consists of like 20-22 lines accuracy and speed matters, trp1b is the memory test they give you a sheet to read for like 5 mint after that they take it from you let you sit for 2 mint and give you 18 MCQs to solve from the passage(they will take that sheet back) you should remenber all the key points, TRP2 is is the sounds and symbol consists of 3 parts in part one you have to count low beats there will be two beats high and low you have to count low ones in part 2 you have to circle the the matching symbols on a sheet in 45 sec, part three there will be just one beat you have to count and aswell as circle the symbols, and there is a dial and lever you have to solve like 43 mcqs in 8 mint they tell you everything about it and give you 3 practice questions in all the tests. hope you find it helpful

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Do you have any practice material for VSE or any near to the acctual test material I can find online you know of??

Wow, that was a helpful answer. Thank you Malaika. Would you also guide me for practice material what you referred to and how did you find all these exams. Did you give the exam recently?
Appreciate your response.

 

[baz962]

You would lose an attempt with Chiltern. Not with any other TOC.

What I don’t know is whether a VSE at home as part of a sift counts towards a life with any other TOC who uses the same process. I do not want to put my neck out to suggest it wouldn’t in this instance.

I would say it is. I did vse online at home for a toc , when I was looking to get in . I was supposed to do it in house for another toc but wouldn't let me as I had done it online.

 

[malaika10]

Wow, that was a helpful answer. Thank you Malaika. Would you also guide me for practice material what you referred to and how did you find all these exams. Did you give the exam recently?
Appreciate your response.

for the group bordon I practiced it on book I bought it from amazon. as much practice you do you will become more smooth, and for the trp1b I used chatgpt and trp2 I bought the course from traindrivertest, they were easy if you have enough practice stay focused and try to beat the time, yes I gave the test last month.

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I will have my VSE this week, on the e mail they didn't specified how mutch time I should complete the exercises.So far I can complete it in 3 minutes without mistakes.

where did you practice VSE.

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Hi All, I have an upcoming OPC Visual Search Exercise.Can someone help me what it is and where can I find the practice material for the same.
Your valuable feedback is very helpful.

Have you cleared the VSE as I am having it at opc next week any guidance related to it will be really helpful. As far as I know it will have 3 parts but I want to get some practice material which is near to the reality one, If you know any and like to share please

 

[ramsy12]

for the group bordon I practiced it on book I bought it from amazon. as much practice you do you will become more smooth, and for the trp1b I used chatgpt and trp2 I bought the course from traindrivertest, they were easy if you have enough practice stay focused and try to beat the time, yes I gave the test last month.

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where did you practice VSE.

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Have you cleared the VSE as I am having it at opc next week any guidance related to it will be really helpful. As far as I know it will have 3 parts but I want to get some practice material which is near to the reality one, If you know any and like to share please

Yes I did cleared the VSE. I done my practice on study material but unfortunately the test is slightly different.
Part 1 : A track with trains moving through station/signal in a circular simulation. So needs to check for error and quickly click error if you find one.
Part 2 : You have to match symbol on 2 rows of 5/6 shapes and needs to click at bottom button if you find error or no error.
Two button Yes and No at the bottom. This has low intensity and high intensity, they will warn you when changing the intensity.
Part 3: Both Part 1 and Part 2 simultaneously together but Part 1 is prioritised.

I found a link later after my test in this forum you check if it is helpful for VSE https://traineetraindriverinfo.com/product/dynamic-visual-search-train-driver-tests/

Hope this clears your doubt.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 12 May 2026 ==

for the group bordon I practiced it on book I bought it from amazon. as much practice you do you will become more smooth, and for the trp1b I used chatgpt and trp2 I bought the course from traindrivertest, they were easy if you have enough practice stay focused and try to beat the time, yes I gave the test last month.

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where did you practice VSE.

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Have you cleared the VSE as I am having it at opc next week any guidance related to

Thank You Mate. Will practice more on these.

 

[malaika10]

Thank you soo much... and for you dial and lever one is going to be semi circle diagram each mcqs are going to have 4 semi circle with the label named light power gas or the one I couldnt remember and and will have 4 sections colored different in each section and in every semicircle there will be one lever pointing to a certain color they will tell you which color you have to priritise first and then which one should be the second one and then the third and so on

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 12 May 2026 ==

Yes I did cleared the VSE. I done my practice on study material but unfortunately the test is slightly different.
Part 1 : A track with trains moving through station/signal in a circular simulation. So needs to check for error and quickly click error if you find one.
Part 2 : You have to match symbol on 2 rows of 5/6 shapes and needs to click at bottom button if you find error or no error.
Two button Yes and No at the bottom. This has low intensity and high intensity, they will warn you when changing the intensity.
Part 3: Both Part 1 and Part 2 simultaneously together but Part 1 is prioritised.

I found a link later after my test in this forum you check if it is helpful for VSE https://traineetraindriverinfo.com/product/dynamic-visual-search-train-driver-tests/

Hope this clears your doubt.

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Thank You Mate. Will practice more on these.

and did you find the VSE test hard?

 

[traintee]

I also did the VSE with Chiltern last week at home and struggled like the other poster, I made a few mistakes on the last one however I have not received a failure e-mail yet? does that mean I have passed this stage?

My concern is that I struggled focusing on two processes at the same time for only 30 minutes so even if I did pass, It’s made me start doubting whether train driving is really for me, considering the reality is handling multiple processes at speed constantly for hours. Anyone else doubt themselves on the road to this?

Don't over think it too much. You aren't supposed to be perfect on the test.

 

[ramsy12]

Thank you soo much... and for you dial and lever one is going to be semi circle diagram each mcqs are going to have 4 semi circle with the label named light power gas or the one I couldnt remember and and will have 4 sections colored different in each section and in every semicircle there will be one lever pointing to a certain color they will tell you which color you have to priritise first and then which one should be the second one and then the third and so on

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and did you find the VSE test hard?

I would say Part 3 is hard coz you have to do Part 1 and 2 together with priority to Part 1.

 

[HeelBurton]

I would say it is. I did vse online at home for a toc , when I was looking to get in . I was supposed to do it in house for another toc but wouldn't let me as I had don

I would say it is. I did vse online at home for a toc , when I was looking to get in . I was supposed to do it in house for another toc but wouldn't let me as I had done it online.

I was leaning on the assumption it would, so thanks for this

 

[Matteo1988]

I would say it is. I did vse online at home for a toc , when I was looking to get in . I was supposed to do it in house for another toc but wouldn't let me as I had done it online.

So if you fail the VSE you can't apply straight away for another TOC?

 

[BHMGuard]

Just stumbled across this thread. I applied for the Birmingham trainee vacancy in October last year. Still haven’t heard anything back. My application is still sitting there on the portal. Since then I’ve passed the OPC at enhanced level with another TOC. Just wondering if anyone is in a similar position with that application from October. Be slightly annoyed if they have rejected it but didn’t get any correspondence.

 

[HeelBurton]

Just stumbled across this thread. I applied for the Birmingham trainee vacancy in October last year. Still haven’t heard anything back. My application is still sitting there on the portal. Since then I’ve passed the OPC at enhanced level with another TOC. Just wondering if anyone is in a similar position with that application from October. Be slightly annoyed if they have rejected it but didn’t get any correspondence.

What stage does it state on your application?

 

[BHMGuard]

What stage does it state on your application?

It doesn’t weirdly. Just shows the job I applied for, the offer to view the questions I answered and to have the actual application emailed to me and that it was submitted. That’s it. Only email I’ve had is confirmation of the application being sent.

 

[HeelBurton]

It doesn’t weirdly. Just shows the job I applied for, the offer to view the questions I answered and to have the actual application emailed to me and that it was submitted. That’s it. Only email I’ve had is confirmation of the application being sent.

So there’s no portal available which shows your application process at all?

that is odd. Perhaps fire an email to recruitment and check what’s happened

 

[BHMGuard]

So there’s no portal available which shows your application process at all?

that is odd. Perhaps fire an email to recruitment and check what’s happened

Nope. Just blank next to application process. Confirms I’ve applied, got the entirety of the questions there available to view but no status. Another arriva TOC shows whether you’re under review, no longer under consideration, but nothing of the like here. It’s weird because I’ve had no rejection, but 0 communication either. Thanks for the insight anyway.

 

[HeelBurton]

Nope. Just blank next to application process. Confirms I’ve applied, got the entirety of the questions there available to view but no status. Another arriva TOC shows whether you’re under review, no longer under consideration, but nothing of the like here. It’s weird because I’ve had no rejection, but 0 communication either. Thanks for the insight anyway.

You would get the same here. If you read through the thread, there are various stages in numbers. So i suspect there's a problem here and recruitment can assist.

 

[baz962]

So if you fail the VSE you can't apply straight away for another TOC?

I believe so if they use that test. Having said that , it was the end of 2017/ Start of 2018 when I was doing it and it may of changed. Wouldn't hurt to ask the toc or opc if you want a definitive answer or anything has changed.

 

[HeelBurton]

I believe so if they use that test. Having said that , it was the end of 2017/ Start of 2018 when I was doing it and it may of changed. Wouldn't hurt to ask the toc or opc if you want a definitive answer or anything has changed.

The TOC don’t know, or, I don’t….

OPC would be your best bet.

 

[Brickz]

When I done the VSE at home in 2024 it said in my email that it would count towards my lives if I were to fail

 

[woody_woods]

Just stumbled across this thread. I applied for the Birmingham trainee vacancy in October last year. Still haven’t heard anything back. My application is still sitting there on the portal. Since then I’ve passed the OPC at enhanced level with another TOC. Just wondering if anyone is in a similar position with that application from October. Be slightly annoyed if they have rejected it but didn’t get any correspondence.

Mines exactly the same as well.

 

[malaika10]

has anyone gave the stage 2 and CBI at opc watford today how was it any tips you want to share?

 

[ad00am]

Nope. Just blank next to application process. Confirms I’ve applied, got the entirety of the questions there available to view but no status. Another arriva TOC shows whether you’re under review, no longer under consideration, but nothing of the like here. It’s weird because I’ve had no rejection, but 0 communication either. Thanks for the insight anyway.

I've had a similar experience too in that my online portal is blank. However I was recently contacted by OPC to attend the VSE in Watford (having never done it before online or otherwise).

 

[ChooWoo]

Nope. Just blank next to application process. Confirms I’ve applied, got the entirety of the questions there available to view but no status. Another arriva TOC shows whether you’re under review, no longer under consideration, but nothing of the like here. It’s weird because I’ve had no rejection, but 0 communication either. Thanks for the insight anyway.

Mines exactly the same since October aswell, but figured just a waiting game as I already have enhanced passes and vse so waiting for rest of the process to catch up. Maybe it is an error though

 

[UTV1982]

Mines exactly the same since October aswell, but figured just a waiting game as I already have enhanced passes and vse so waiting for rest of the process to catch up. Maybe it is an error though

Just stumbled across this thread. I applied for the Birmingham trainee vacancy in October last year. Still haven’t heard anything back. My application is still sitting there on the portal. Since then I’ve passed the OPC at enhanced level with another TOC. Just wondering if anyone is in a similar position with that application from October. Be slightly annoyed if they have rejected it but didn’t get any correspondence.

I’m exactly the same. No updates, no communication. My application is just sitting there. I tried to get in touch in November but no response to that either. I’ve completed opc tests and DMI for another toc too now.

 

[ChooWoo]

I’m exactly the same. No updates, no communication. My application is just sitting there. I tried to get in touch in November but no response to that either. I’ve completed opc tests and DMI for another toc too now.

It is frustrating, Ive emailed aswell and heard nothing at all.
But apply to each and all tocs in the area, I'm in 2x talent pools at the moment waiting and applied to a 3rd recently. Just to try give myself a chance before tests expire

 

[HeelBurton]

Can those of you who have not heard anything double check that you have not applied to talent pools at the time of application?

 

[ChooWoo]

I presumed once pass everything they all go into talent pools, I have all my tests at enhanced and mmi with another toc. But not heard anything from Chiltern to say through to interview, waiting, or a failed the sift email.

I know people who've had emails telling them unsuccessful but heard nothing since applying last year

 

[MN 24]

I've got a stage 1 assessment centre for chiltern (Bletchley) on June 9th. There's no mention of an interview just 4 tests. What's the script with interviews? Is it stage 2 only or should I be prepared for one at stage 1? Cheers.

 

[Unobrow]

I've got a stage 1 assessment centre for chiltern (Bletchley) on June 9th. There's no mention of an interview just 4 tests. What's the script with interviews? Is it stage 2 only or should I be prepared for one at stage 1? Ch

You don’t do any interview on the stage 1 tests. You MIGHT have the MMI on the day of stage 2 if you pass those. I think a lot of companies though do the MMI on another day. Some may have he DMI before that and do it the other way round.

 

[MN 24]

Nice one. cheers

 

[d44nny]

Yes stage 1 is just paper tests. Stage 2 is computer then if you pass will do the MMI on that afternoon