GB RailFreight

[Harrjimm]

Hello Guys,
I have recently applied for the position of Trainee Train Manager with GBRF and been invited for an interview. I presumed that it will be a competency based interview, however, I will appreciate any tips or hints!
Also if anyone out there who recently joined GBRF in 2025 as TTM to share their experience, about the company, roster, pay scale or any helpful information! I currently work in passenger train so have no idea about how freight companies operate. I thank you all in advance for your honest and constructive comments. Cheers.

 

[20atthemagnet]

Hello Guys,
I have recently applied for the position of Trainee Train Manager with GBRF and been invited for an interview. I presumed that it will be a competency based interview, however, I will appreciate any tips or hints!
Also if anyone out there who recently joined GBRF in 2025 as TTM to share their experience, about the company, roster, pay scale or any helpful information! I currently work in passenger train so have no idea about how freight companies operate. I thank you all in advance for your honest and constructive comments. Cheers.

Part of a half GB household, few ex colleagues there…so not directly but can tell you some bits from what I’ve observed (I’m also a driver but TOC)

Interview wise make sure you research about the CEO, he’s an ambitious man and it has been mentioned a good understanding of where they came from and where they want to go will definitely get you some good points. Make sure you understand their operations. Introduction of class 99s etc… Most of it can be found on Google/Linkedin.

You’re looking at a 34.5 hour week average 4 day. 71k once qualified. Be aware of that these are averages which means you can have some pretty heavy weeks (approaching 50 hours) or days and some lighter ones. Industry wide defined contribution pension so not the defined benefit most other operators get.

Work/rostering just depends on where you’re gonna be based. You have days in and days off and you find out what you’re doing on the Thursday before. Could be earlies/nights/lates whatever suits them. They do tend to copy and paste jobs in from what I’ve seen which some people hate other people dont care. (do a search in the forum and you will see very polarising opinions on GBRF and on subjects like this)

The overtime available generally is ridiculous. They seem to be a company that seems to over promise and then worry about how to staff it later, but this is great for people who want to earn extra. They’ll ask you pretty much to work every RD and will sometimes ask you to change your job last minute, but they will numerate you for it fairly and significantly a lot of the time. The resourcing team are generally quite polite and if you say no, don’t take it personally. They do work their drivers pretty hard though.

I think they are okay so long as you understand how they operate. Also be aware they have a learning agreement which ties you into five years or a hefty sum to pay if you try to leave (again up for the debate in the forums so have a look)

Good luck!

 

[Harrjimm]

Part of a half GB household, few ex colleagues there…so not directly but can tell you some bits from what I’ve observed (I’m also a driver but TOC)

Interview wise make sure you research about the CEO, he’s an ambitious man and it has been mentioned a good understanding of where they came from and where they want to go will definitely get you some good points. Make sure you understand their operations. Introduction of class 99s etc… Most of it can be found on Google/Linkedin.

You’re looking at a 34.5 hour week average 4 day. 71k once qualified. Be aware of that these are averages which means you can have some pretty heavy weeks (approaching 50 hours) or days and some lighter ones. Industry wide defined contribution pension so not the defined benefit most other operators get.

Work/rostering just depends on where you’re gonna be based. You have days in and days off and you find out what you’re doing on the Thursday before. Could be earlies/nights/lates whatever suits them. They do tend to copy and paste jobs in from what I’ve seen which some people hate other people dont care. (do a search in the forum and you will see very polarising opinions on GBRF and on subjects like this)

The overtime available generally is ridiculous. They seem to be a company that seems to over promise and then worry about how to staff it later, but this is great for people who want to earn extra. They’ll ask you pretty much to work every RD and will sometimes ask you to change your job last minute, but they will numerate you for it fairly and significantly a lot of the time. The resourcing team are generally quite polite and if you say no, don’t take it personally. They do work their drivers pretty hard though.

I think they are okay so long as you understand how they operate. Also be aware they have a learning agreement which ties you into five years or a hefty sum to pay if you try to leave (again up for the debate in the forums so have a look)

Good luck!

Thanks for your time and giving me these very useful information. I am keen to work that's not an issue however, I have fixed childcare (divorced) based on current 3 weeks roster including long weekend. Do you know if RD are known in advance or fixed so that I can have a fixed routine with my kids? I have applied for the Eastleigh Yard (any idea of how it's like to work there). What about the block leaves! Can they be moved around? I tend to have time off in half terms (at least half of it).
Do they send you away from your home depot if needed to cover high demand?
They advertised the training salary for £27800, after how long this salary is reviewed? What's the pay scale over the course of training?
Thanks for the tip re Learning Agreement - I will have to do more digging on that!
Once again thank you so much.

 

[20atthemagnet]

Thanks for your time and giving me these very useful information. I am keen to work that's not an issue however, I have fixed childcare (divorced) based on current 3 weeks roster including long weekend. Do you know if RD are known in advance or fixed so that I can have a fixed routine with my kids? I have applied for the Eastleigh Yard (any idea of how it's like to work there). What about the block leaves! Can they be moved around? I tend to have time off in half terms (at least half of it).
Do they send you away from your home depot if needed to cover high demand?
They advertised the training salary for £27800, after how long this salary is reviewed? What's the pay scale over the course of training?
Thanks for the tip re Learning Agreement - I will have to do more digging on that!
Once again thank you so much.

Yes, your rest days are fixed and you will follow your roster…. So each line will have specific rest days and you’ll drop down each week. So you can see exactly what you’re going to be doing days off wise pretty much indefinitely. You will remain on the training salary untill you are productive. So there is no scale. It’s training salary to driver money.

Not familiar with Eastleigh specifically unfortunately! But I know that it does a fair bit of intermodal work from DP world Southampton.

Block leave yes can be moved around and swapped. Yes, they can ask you to lodge but it’s very rare it’s still going to be somewhere on one of the routes that you sign already. Would be pretty unlikely at somewhere like Eastleigh. Off the top of my head I believe you get £80 per day. You do have to get hire car/van to locations sometimes though. I don’t know if it’s depot specific, but these were usually dropped to the house or picked up from a compound near the depot.

 

[Harrjimm]

Yes, your rest days are fixed and you will follow your roster…. So each line will have specific rest days and you’ll drop down each week. So you can see exactly what you’re going to be doing days off wise pretty much indefinitely. You will remain on the training salary untill you are productive. So there is no scale. It’s training salary to driver money.

Not familiar with Eastleigh specifically unfortunately! But I know that it does a fair bit of intermodal work from DP world Southampton.

Block leave yes can be moved around and swapped. Yes, they can ask you to lodge but it’s very rare it’s still going to be somewhere on one of the routes that you sign already. Would be pretty unlikely at somewhere like Eastleigh. Off the top of my head I believe you get £80 per day. You do have to get hire car/van to locations sometimes though. I don’t know if it’s depot specific, but these were usually dropped to the house or picked up from a compound near the depot.

That's great. Very useful information. Thanks a million. Wish me luck