Thanks buddy. Applied for Edinburgh. Previously worked for scotrail so got a little bit of railway experience but been so long since interviews.
I'm still not 100% sold on it tbh. I'm from Glasgow so like travel for shifts and shift was playing on my mind. Just trying to get as much insight as I can before going through it all.
So I guess I can give you a bit of an overview on the roster, shifts etc for EDB and how that would look for you as a new start.
You start with around 2-3 weeks of training down in York, to learn more about the company and understand the role more in depth (accommodation is provided for you Sunday night - Thursday night during weeks in York, with breakfast and dinner). Following on from that, you’ll spend 2-3 weeks shadowing one of our experienced Customer Experience Leaders (CEL) (formerly Senior Host), as well as spending a day with a Chef, to get to grips with the role onboard and learn how to do your job the best you can.
Once all training is completed, you’ll go on to the ‘New Starter Training Link’, which is a 12 week roster where you are spare every day, to make sure you have experience of all the different shifts and meet as many of the crew as possible.
Once you’ve done your 12 weeks on that link, you’ll be able to start applying for vacant rosters as they come up. Be aware, we are doing mass recruitment for our new December timetable, and so the likelihood is that you won’t get a fixed roster straight away, instead just staying on the spare link for the 12 week cycle over and over again. From the new timetable in December, there will be enough links for everyone to have a set roster. We don’t do a rolling roster, instead a time specific roster based on seniority. I mainly work shifts starting between 5am & 7am, for example.
In terms of actual shifts themselves, there’s a lot of variety. Our earliest start times are 0515 Monday - Friday, 0523 Saturday, 0835 Sunday. The latest book off is 2337 Monday - Thursday, 0035 Friday (Saturday morning really), 2251 Saturday, and 2341 Sunday. Obviously during engineering works this can slightly vary, especially during Carlisle diverts.
Regarding shift length, this can vary from 6 hours right up to 11hrs 17 (at Edinburgh anyway, some depots have longer shifts). Monday - Friday, we work a variety of shifts to Newcastle, Darlington, York, London, and Aberdeen. Early shifts are generally a good mix of Newcastle, Darlington, York and London, mid shifts are predominantly Double Newcastle (down to Newcastle and back twice) and London, and late shifts are mainly Newcastle, York and Aberdeen. At the weekend, we only go as far south as York, and we only work to Aberdeen early on a Sunday, no Saturday shift to Aberdeen. There are a lot more Double Newcastles at the weekend.
When I started, I commuted from Glasgow for most of my first year. It’s perfectly doable, we have staff commuting from as far as Milngavie, Paisley, Barrhead etc, we even have staff coming down from Dundee, St Andrews and Perth. Provided you’re happy to commute, it’s manageable. The 900 bus runs 24/7 to Edinburgh so there’s always an option, as you’ll know ScotRail trains also run for most of our shifts. There is very limited staff parking for Hosts, I’m still on the waiting list after over 3 years. There is plenty of free parking though at Ingliston, Hermiston and around Edinburgh Park and Corstorphine, with both bus and tram links to the city centre. I’m always happy to help new starts find parking as it can be quite daunting!
Onboard, we work in crews of 3-6, covering the Cafe Bar, Let’s Eat at Your Seat, and First Class. Dine trains are generally a crew of 5 or 6, including a Chef, CEL, and 3-4 hosts. Dish trains you usually work as a crew of 3 hosts and a CEL, and Deli trains as a crew of 3 hosts.
If you have any more questions, let me know!
