London Underground - CSA1 / CSA2 - Recruitment and Discussion

[markazz]

I’ve heard the second week assessment is very hard in comparison to the fire safety and tickets, is this true? And if so, why?

Week 2 was Rules and Procedures (if I remember correctly), its maybe a bit more difficult than week 1 but nothing to worry about if you listen in class and do the modules.

Remember that the trainers want you to pass, if you don't understand something then ask.

I'm sure you'll be pleasantly surprised with your final score in the exam.

Good luck

 

[Kona]

I’ve heard the second week assessment is very hard in comparison to the fire safety and tickets, is this true? And if so, why?

As long as you study, put the work in, ask questions when you're not sure, you'll be fine.

 

[Mawkie]

I’ve heard the second week assessment is very hard in comparison to the fire safety and tickets, is this true? And if so, why?

The workload is manageable and the course is also manageable if you pay attention.

TfL have their pick of applicants and obviously pick the best candidates out of the thousands (and sometimes tens of thousands) that apply every time the job is advertised. If you are successful in the recruitment process it means they have faith in your ability to study to the required level and you should too!

As to why the course is challenging, contrary to popular opinion, CSA1 is a safety critical job, and you will be trained on dealing with a wide range of scenarios - that can obviously mean dealing with a person under a train incident, leading people through tunnels in an emergency evacuation, a person ill on a train, stations congestion, opening and closing a station, platform management, lift evacuations, and of course escalator falls and trap incidents. So it stands to reason the course is sufficiently challenging to weed out those that couldn't cope with such things.

On a day-to-day basis, you will be maintaining safety in and around the railway, and that can simply be by being on the station, contributing to minimum numbers.

On the Underground, you often get paid for what you know, not necessarily what you do. So staying around the gateline whilst not much is happening is still working, but it doesn't represent the entirety of the role.

 

[ac2552]

Haven’t been here for a while, so thought I’d put my two pence piece in. I had a bit of imposter syndrome getting this job… but once I’d settled into my station (and a very central busy one at that! Think baptism by fire!) I learnt best by getting involved. Every emergency I followed and watched, took it all in. A year later? I have received multiple compliments (which have been passed onto managers) for how I handle emergencies and incidents and I have to be completely honest, I LOVE getting stuck in. Detrainments, reversals, service disruptions etc.

You’ve made it this far. I can assure you the rules and regulations and safety critical training is absolutely fine as long as you focus and put the work in. When you enter your station, watch and learn. If anything happens in your live learning week, follow and take it all in. Watch what we do. It’s truly the best way to learn.

I wish all the new starters well, past present and future, because this job is amazing and even if some days are hard, I love every second.

Good luck. Hopefully see some of you in the near future!

 

[smilingsmile11]

Hello guys

I recently applied to the CSA1 night tube part time role and made it to the AC2 (don't know my result yet). Just wondering how insane would it be to commute from Birmingham if I'm successful lol.

I live in London now but to be honest if I'm unsuccessful at getting a PhD for September next year, I'm considering moving to Birmingham to live with my partner. I've got friends and some family in London who I could probably stay with when I have shifts and there's no trains home, but because the role is part time I don't see why I couldn't do it. Some insight would be lovely though.

Of course I don't even know if I got the role yet or when it would start so this is all speculative. I'm surprised I even made it this far, I was convinced I failed the roleplay! I had solved some of the issues but only partially solved the major theme of the roleplay before it ended and it felt like I was going in circles, but somehow I passed (I do have reasonable adjustments but no idea how much that plays into their decisions). I'm kind of worried it'll still reflect bad on me when they're making their final decision, or do they only consider the interview at this point? That one didn't feel too hard but could go either way tbh.

 

[The pumpkin]

Hello guys

I recently applied to the CSA1 night tube part time role and made it to the AC2 (don't know my result yet). Just wondering how insane would it be to commute from Birmingham if I'm successful lol.

I live in London now but to be honest if I'm unsuccessful at getting a PhD for September next year, I'm considering moving to Birmingham to live with my partner. I've got friends and some family in London who I could probably stay with when I have shifts and there's no trains home, but because the role is part time I don't see why I couldn't do it. Some insight would be lovely though.

Of course I don't even know if I got the role yet or when it would start so this is all speculative. I'm surprised I even made it this far, I was convinced I failed the roleplay! I had solved some of the issues but only partially solved the major theme of the roleplay before it ended and it felt like I was going in circles, but somehow I passed (I do have reasonable adjustments but no idea how much that plays into their decisions). I'm kind of worried it'll still reflect bad on me when they're making their final decision, or do they only consider the interview at this point? That one didn't feel too hard but could go either way tbh.

Hi congratulations on getting this far. In terms of commuting from Birmingham I don’t see the issue so long as you stay part time. The shifts are Friday and Saturday night usually around 11pm till 7am. So you could take a train from Birmingham Friday evening to London for your first shift. It takes around 2 hours on the train so a bit long but not unheard of for a commute. Then on Saturday morning you could arrange to stay with one of your friends or family members to sleep during the day. Then go to work Saturday night for your second shift and Sunday morning after work take the train straight back to Birmingham. With night shift working hours you will always have trains to get you from and back to Birmingham unless there are engineering works. That of course would only work if you stayed in London during the day on Saturday to get enough rest and sleep for your second shift. But that is a decision you should make once you actually start in the company and you are sure you have the contract. I’m not sure they’d be willing to entertain that prospect before they employ you. After you start unless you give them any problems I don’t see how they could stop you from moving? There are many people working for TFL that live outside London although I’m not sure if many people live as far as Birmingham. If other posters that work for TFL could confirm company policy that would be great. I could also ask my CSA brother to ask his supervisor if he knows the policy.
In terms of you role play, if they didn’t like your answers you wouldn’t have passed. You cannot sort of progress to the next phase. You’re either through or you are not and you are. so stop worrying about something that’s already behind you and concentrate on the interview. When my brother did the interview 2 years ago it was online with an external company so it wasn’t in-house with TFL so the ladies did not deal with any previous stages of the process and I’m not even sure they were aware of the previous stages.
Hope this helps. Concentrate on your interview and you will find a workable solution in the end

 

[bluegoblin7]

There’s no reason you couldn’t live in Birmingham - I’m aware of other staff who do, and who commute further and work full time.

The main things to be aware of are fatigue and delays. Night shift work can be very fatiguing and a four hour round trip on top of that will take its toll, even part time. If you think you can handle that then crack on, but it would be viewed very dimly if you later experienced fatigue issues with such a long commute. Similarly, given some of the unreliability of the West Coast there’s going to be little sympathy or leeway if you’re delayed getting into work - particularly with Night Tube this can also quickly have an impact on minimum staffing numbers. I wouldn’t want to be responsible for a station closing because I was late on my ultimately avoidable commute.

 

[smilingsmile11]

There’s no reason you couldn’t live in Birmingham - I’m aware of other staff who do, and who commute further and work full time.

The main things to be aware of are fatigue and delays. Night shift work can be very fatiguing and a four hour round trip on top of that will take its toll, even part time. If you think you can handle that then crack on, but it would be viewed very dimly if you later experienced fatigue issues with such a long commute. Similarly, given some of the unreliability of the West Coast there’s going to be little sympathy or leeway if you’re delayed getting into work - particularly with Night Tube this can also quickly have an impact on minimum staffing numbers. I wouldn’t want to be responsible for a station closing because I was late on my ultimately avoidable commute.

Thank you! These are all very fair points. I could always continue living in London and keep doing what I do now and visit when I have free time (weekends at the moment but obvs probably wouldn't be that if I was doing night tube). I put myself forward for weekend days and part time too, the part time role I feel would work best for living in London and visiting when I have off I feel.

Luckily I'm very familiar with night shift work and know I can handle that side pretty well, four hour commute, unsure.

Lots to consider! But I don't even have an offer yet so nothing more than speculation for now. If I do get the role and start any later than around this time next year, I'd have to move anyway, potentially to my parents house as another option, still a commute but slightly shorter and afaik less unreliable than Birmingham. Or move to a further out zone.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: Sunday at 23:28 ==

Hi congratulations on getting this far. In terms of commuting from Birmingham I don’t see the issue so long as you stay part time. The shifts are Friday and Saturday night usually around 11pm till 7am. So you could take a train from Birmingham Friday evening to London for your first shift. It takes around 2 hours on the train so a bit long but not unheard of for a commute. Then on Saturday morning you could arrange to stay with one of your friends or family members to sleep during the day. Then go to work Saturday night for your second shift and Sunday morning after work take the train straight back to Birmingham. With night shift working hours you will always have trains to get you from and back to Birmingham unless there are engineering works. That of course would only work if you stayed in London during the day on Saturday to get enough rest and sleep for your second shift. But that is a decision you should make once you actually start in the company and you are sure you have the contract. I’m not sure they’d be willing to entertain that prospect before they employ you. After you start unless you give them any problems I don’t see how they could stop you from moving? There are many people working for TFL that live outside London although I’m not sure if many people live as far as Birmingham. If other posters that work for TFL could confirm company policy that would be great. I could also ask my CSA brother to ask his supervisor if he knows the policy.
In terms of you role play, if they didn’t like your answers you wouldn’t have passed. You cannot sort of progress to the next phase. You’re either through or you are not and you are. so stop worrying about something that’s already behind you and concentrate on the interview. When my brother did the interview 2 years ago it was online with an external company so it wasn’t in-house with TFL so the ladies did not deal with any previous stages of the process and I’m not even sure they were aware of the previous stages.
Hope this helps. Concentrate on your interview and you will find a workable solution in the end

This is kind of what I was thinking! Like my brother is pretty chill I don't think he would mind me staying for one night a week. My parents used to have a flat in London themselves, not anymore but maybe I could convince them to get one again if I contributed a little bit to rent lol. Or, I could do that smaller commute to their house in Essex between shifts and then back to Birmingham on the Sunday.

And I will stop worrying about the roleplay thank you! I so wish I could see what they wrote down but I know why I can't. I've done the interview too so yeah it's out of my hands completely! And I am quite pleased with the interview I felt pretty confident and like I hit every point.