CrossCountry - Apprentice Train Driver - Recruitment Discussion

[Ridetherails]

Hi all,

I’ve recently passed the MMI and psychometric tests for the XC trainee driver positions. I’m wondering if any cross country drivers or other staff might be able to share what the working week actually looks like for drivers?

I understand that it’s shift work, and that it’s changeable, but it’s difficult to get a feel for what the job actually entails without something more specific to go on!

I’ve applied for the Plymouth depot.

Thanks

Ask at Dmi, every depot is different so unless someone is Plymouth based they won’t be able to answer sorry

 

[timmy827]

Not a XC driver, but there are some "interesting" Ts and Cs such as very large movement when spare (something like
if you are rostered at 10am spare you can be moved something like up to 12 hours?) At Plymouth expect to go to Laira depot at the start or end of evert shift depending on if your earlies or lates, with probably a Bristol and back as well. There is also some Birmingham work. It's good money, but Sundays are outside though you are expected to work them unless you can get them covered. The queue to get onto Laira depot can be frustrating end of the shift so expect some late finishes (however often XC are allowed to leapfrog GWR trains getting on for some reason!). Decent bunch of drivers and the train managers and hosts all seem very friendly without exception.
Hopefully someone from XC can confirm and clarify some of the above, as like I said I don't actually work for them!

Ask at Dmi, every depot is different so unless someone is Plymouth based they won’t be able to answer sorry

Thanks both. Some interesting info to get started with there for sure!

It’s absolutely on my list of questions for DMI, just asking on the off chance there might be some Plymouth staff lurking here.

 

[Zerothebrake!]

XC Plymouth Depot :- As a newly qualified Driver you will start by learning Laira & Bristol first then move on to Birmingham New Street & Paignton then finally Penzance & Westbury.

Currently the earliest start is 03.45 Spare and the latest is 22.35 ( - which is one ECS move onto Laira) but the Links will change from December 14th.

You have the choice of either a four or a five day working week rota and Sundays are extra pay paid at the basic hourly rate.

There's a What's App Group in house where you can swap Sunday turns with other Drivers.

Rest Day Working is in place until March 21st for train work, route learning & traction training and there's an extra payment for starting before 5 am and finishing after 2 am.

It's a friendly depot where all three grades mix really well and the Depot Managers are excellent.

 

[timmy827]

XC Plymouth Depot :- As a newly qualified Driver you will start by learning Laira & Bristol first then move on to Birmingham New Street & Paignton then finally Penzance & Westbury.

Currently the earliest start is 03.45 Spare and the latest is 22.35 ( - which is one ECS move onto Laira) but the Links will change from December 14th.

You have the choice of either a four or a five day working week rota and Sundays are extra pay paid at the basic hourly rate.

There's a What's App Group in house where you can swap Sunday turns with other Drivers.

Rest Day Working is in place until March 21st for train work, route learning & traction training and there's an extra payment for starting before 5 am and finishing after 2 am.

It's a friendly depot where all three grades mix really well and the Depot Managers are excellent.

Thanks, that’s really helpful. Do you happen to know what the rest day pattern looks like? I’ve got young kids and am just trying to build a realistic picture of what family life would be like.

 

[class 9]

Not a XC driver, but there are some "interesting" Ts and Cs such as very large movement when spare (something like
if you are rostered at 10am spare you can be moved something like up to 12 hours?) At Plymouth expect to go to Laira depot at the start or end of evert shift depending on if your earlies or lates, with probably a Bristol and back as well. There is also some Birmingham work. It's good money, but Sundays are outside though you are expected to work them unless you can get them covered. The queue to get onto Laira depot can be frustrating end of the shift so expect some late finishes (however often XC are allowed to leapfrog GWR trains getting on for some reason!). Decent bunch of drivers and the train managers and hosts all seem very friendly without exception.
Hopefully someone from XC can confirm and clarify some of the above, as like I said I don't actually work for them!

Spare movement is more or less unlimited, the only condition is forward movement is 11 hours, so the 10am Spare can only used for jobs up to a 2100 finish.
Other T&Cs that seem to be kept quiet are you don't get a full allocation of individual AL days until 5 years in and sick pay entitlement duration takes a while to get full entitlement, can't remember the exact timescale.

 

[traintee]

What's the minimum notice they can give when allocating you a job off spare? For the weeks roster or?

 

[Zerothebrake!]

Thanks, that’s really helpful. Do you happen to know what the rest day pattern looks like? I’ve got young kids and am just trying to build a realistic picture of what family life would be like.

Thanks, that’s really helpful. Do you happen to know what the rest day pattern looks like? I’ve got young kids and am just trying to build a realistic picture of what family life would be like.

Apologies for not replying sooner but i'm out of the country at the moment and don't have all of the info to hand - I was hoping that there might be an old link in my phone but that's not the case..

What I can tell you is the 5 Day is a 30 week Link in which you will have 12 Rostered Sundays to work.

You will have Sunday to Sunday off on lines 5, 10, 15, 20 & 30 plus a mini weekend off (Sat,Sun & Mon) on a line between each of these.

The 4 Day Link has 21 lines and you'll start with Mon & Tue off on line 1, then Wed & Thu off on line 2 and Friday to Tuesday off on lines 3 & 4 - so you'll get a long weekend every three weeks (as opposed to having the whole week off in the 5 day).

The train work, route knowledge and spare turns are distributed evenly between the two links.

As a new recruit, your initial training will probably be up at Derby staying in a hotel from Sunday to Thursday or Friday then you come back to the depot for a fortnight of front end turns riding with a Minder Driver.

After that it's back to Derby again but i'm not sure of the timescales involved.

Hope this helps.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 10 Nov 2025 ==

What's the minimum notice they can give when allocating you a job off spare? For the weeks roster or?

The Daily Sheets are posted at 15.30 every afternoon so you have three days notice of your actual duty (ie Sundays sheet would be posted on a Thursday afternoon).

If you book on Spare you can be allocated work straight away - you can't work your Rest Day covering another depot's work though so you may find yourself just doing the part of a diagram that you can do within your rostered hours.

 

[Kieranmcd]

Apologies for not replying sooner but i'm out of the country at the moment and don't have all of the info to hand - I was hoping that there might be an old link in my phone but that's not the case..

What I can tell you is the 5 Day is a 30 week Link in which you will have 12 Rostered Sundays to work.

You will have Sunday to Sunday off on lines 5, 10, 15, 20 & 30 plus a mini weekend off (Sat,Sun & Mon) on a line between each of these.

The 4 Day Link has 21 lines and you'll start with Mon & Tue off on line 1, then Wed & Thu off on line 2 and Friday to Tuesday off on lines 3 & 4 - so you'll get a long weekend every three weeks (as opposed to having the whole week off in the 5 day).

The train work, route knowledge and spare turns are distributed evenly between the two links.

As a new recruit, your initial training will probably be up at Derby staying in a hotel from Sunday to Thursday or Friday then you come back to the depot for a fortnight of front end turns riding with a Minder Driver.

After that it's back to Derby again but i'm not sure of the timescales involved.

Hope this helps.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 10 Nov 2025 ==


The Daily Sheets are posted at 15.30 every afternoon so you have three days notice of your actual duty (ie Sundays sheet would be posted on a Thursday afternoon).

If you book on Spare you can be allocated work straight away - you can't work your Rest Day covering another depot's work though so you may find yourself just doing the part of a diagram that you can do within your rostered hours.

That's really useful info, cheers. Similar to the original poster I'm thinking about family life and wanted to ask about the 5 day line. I've heard from a friend that if you choose the 4 day week, every few weeks you work 7 shifts in a row. Is this the same for the 5 day week?
Thanks in advance

 

[SJN]

That's really useful info, cheers. Similar to the original poster I'm thinking about family life and wanted to ask about the 5 day line. I've heard from a friend that if you choose the 4 day week, every few weeks you work 7 shifts in a row. Is this the same for the 5 day week?
Thanks in advance

If you have a rostered Sunday then it works out as 7 days in a row on 4 day. If you’re on 5 day then you only get the one day off then it could be 7 or 8.

 

[timmy827]

Apologies for not replying sooner but i'm out of the country at the moment and don't have all of the info to hand - I was hoping that there might be an old link in my phone but that's not the case..

What I can tell you is the 5 Day is a 30 week Link in which you will have 12 Rostered Sundays to work.

You will have Sunday to Sunday off on lines 5, 10, 15, 20 & 30 plus a mini weekend off (Sat,Sun & Mon) on a line between each of these.

The 4 Day Link has 21 lines and you'll start with Mon & Tue off on line 1, then Wed & Thu off on line 2 and Friday to Tuesday off on lines 3 & 4 - so you'll get a long weekend every three weeks (as opposed to having the whole week off in the 5 day).

The train work, route knowledge and spare turns are distributed evenly between the two links.

As a new recruit, your initial training will probably be up at Derby staying in a hotel from Sunday to Thursday or Friday then you come back to the depot for a fortnight of front end turns riding with a Minder Driver.

After that it's back to Derby again but i'm not sure of the timescales involved.

Hope this helps.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 10 Nov 2025 ==


The Daily Sheets are posted at 15.30 every afternoon so you have three days notice of your actual duty (ie Sundays sheet would be posted on a Thursday afternoon).

If you book on Spare you can be allocated work straight away - you can't work your Rest Day covering another depot's work though so you may find yourself just doing the part of a diagram that you can do within your rostered hours.

Thanks so much for taking the time to share all of this. Just the long wait for the DMI for me now!

 

[Hotwheels]

Has anybody who applied for Birmingham in the most recent round of recruitment recieved the SHL email?, if so when please.

 

[mr_ixolite]

Has anybody who applied for Birmingham in the most recent round of recruitment recieved the SHL email?, if so when please.

Still waiting here, guessing as this is for a 26 / early 27 intake they aren't going to rush things

 

[Hotwheels]

Good point. I should relax . Thank you

 

[mr_ixolite]

Gives us plenty of time to practice......

 

[trainguard0701]

Has anyone who is currently in the talent pool heard anything regarding the March course yet?

 

[softquaser]

Has anyone who is currently in the talent pool heard anything regarding the March course yet?

Nothing as yet

 

[jaybon92]

Just been invited for the online assessments. Il have a proper look but couldn't find any practice material

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 12 Nov 2025 ==

Anyone completed the Apprentice 8.0 Job-focused assessment?

what does that entail?

 

[mr_ixolite]

Just been invited for the online assessments. Il have a proper look but couldn't find any practice material

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 12 Nov 2025 ==

Anyone completed the Apprentice 8.0 Job-focused assessment?

what does that entail?

from the most recent recruitment campaign or a previous one?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 12 Nov 2025 ==

Ignore that, just had the same email come through

 

[Mihigo26]

Have also just got the email with the assessment links. Got a bit of time to practice before the deadline also which is great.

Spatial awareness tests in practice I seemed to be getting around half right on most tests. I assume this needs to be better so will be researching the forum for info but also appreciate any other info.

Not sure about the other test and from what I find online it seems to be more personality/behaviour based.

 

[jaybon92]

Have also just got the email with the assessment links. Got a bit of time to practice before the deadline also which is great.

Spatial awareness tests in practice I seemed to be getting around half right on most tests. I assume this needs to be better so will be researching the forum for info but also appreciate any other info.

Not sure about the other test and from what I find online it seems to be more personality/behaviour based.

Im a mixture of results for the spatial which is worrying to be honest

Yeah i believe it's behaviour and situational multiple choice

 

[ZackCulross]

rotation and getting the number of cubes/cylinders i was okay with, not so much the finding correct cube shape

find out soon i guess

 

[mr_ixolite]

rotation and getting the number of cubes/cylinders i was okay with, not so much the finding correct cube shape

find out soon i guess

good luck, did each question have a time limit or just the overall test?

 

[ZackCulross]

good luck, did each question have a time limit or just the overall test?

Spatial Ability
once you start the test you have 15 minutes to complette 22 questions/puzzels

not timed on each question, just 15 mins overall

 

[mr_ixolite]

Spatial Ability
once you start the test you have 15 minutes to complette 22 questions/puzzels

not timed on each question, just 15 mins overall

awesome thank you, the practice ones I've been doing have had a limit on each question which makes you rush and / or guess, time to grab a cuppa and go for it then I suppose

 

[hoody11]

Just been invited for the online assessments. Il have a proper look but couldn't find any practice material

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 12 Nov 2025 ==

Anyone completed the Apprentice 8.0 Job-focused assessment?

what does that entail?

In the same boat so tagging into your comment. I am guessing it will be then asking for examples of when you have used certain skills- just pure guesswork on my behalf though.

 

[mr_ixolite]

Done, I need a brandy now! spatial was hard but fine, the assessment I found a bit ambiguous and not really relevant to many situations I've found myself in, was expecting something more along the line of "you are presented with x situation at work, what do you do" I'm not really sure what sort of decision they can make about me based on the questions asked, but I'm sure greater minds than me know what they are doing!

 

[chris89]

Done, I need a brandy now! spatial was hard but fine, the assessment I found a bit ambiguous and not really relevant to many situations I've found myself in, was expecting something more along the line of "you are presented with x situation at work, what do you do" I'm not really sure what sort of decision they can make about me based on the questions asked, but I'm sure greater minds than me know what they are doing!

Done mine now, Most likely have the feeling messed up the Spatial awareness one, but will wait and see though. For the other bit imagine is due to personality as some other opperators do things like that. (Now to get off bum and sort a presentation out for something else)

 

[Arussoco]

26th is my deadline, Just the spatial test that's bugging me, going to get plenty practice in before having a go i think

 

[chris89]

26th is my deadline, Just the spatial test that's bugging me, going to get plenty practice in before having a go i think

Fair, had been practising a fair bit. But for myself done it sooner then later as a few days away from tomorrow and a lot of late/ early shifts up to that time. So only time fully free and relaxed haha.

 

[nlknraeflnvaek]

What were the personality questions like ? Was it multiple choice or a slider, or did you actually have to type in your answer ?