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London Underground - CSA1 / CSA2 - Recruitment and Discussion

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markazz

Member
Joined
8 Nov 2025
Messages
65
Location
Highbury
Hello everyone, I'm new to this site, signed up last night. I did my role play and SBI on 27/10 and received my conditional offer on 7/11 so 9 working days.

I'm absolutely over the moon, and congratulations to everyone else who got offers.

I returned all the completed documents on 8/11 (I presume they will get back to me if anything needs clarification).

I'm now mentally preparing myself for a 1 year wait to start, anything else will be a bonus.

Happy to answer any questions about my journey this far, although I was sure I'd failed my SBI.

Good luck to anyone else about to embark on this journey.

Role applied for CSA2 Full Time.
 

Zb0905

Member
Joined
29 Dec 2023
Messages
393
Location
London
Hello everyone, I'm new to this site, signed up last night. I did my role play and SBI on 27/10 and received my conditional offer on 7/11 so 9 working days.

I'm absolutely over the moon, and congratulations to everyone else who got offers.

I returned all the completed documents on 8/11 (I presume they will get back to me if anything needs clarification).

I'm now mentally preparing myself for a 1 year wait to start, anything else will be a bonus.

Happy to answer any questions about my journey this far, although I was sure I'd failed my SBI.

Good luck to anyone else about to embark on this journey.

Role applied for CSA2 Full Time.
Am still waiting for the reed link
 

Cherylblue

New Member
Joined
10 Nov 2025
Messages
1
Location
London
Anyone from September got a start date yet ?

Just got a conditional offer! My scenario was pretty hectic. Train delayed 20 mins and next one was coming in 5, platform was busy as people were congregating near stairs/escalator and screens but other end of the platform was empty. Then someone dropped a hot drink on another passenger and a they started getting rowdy with each other. Spent the whole time talking about the scenario as there was so much going on, they didn’t have time to ask my about myself or my current role but I managed to slide it in there. All in all it was abit hectic, I have seen some easier scenarios on here but I guess I handled it well enough to get the role!
Hi can you give me some key words, advice on how to answer these scenarios? I have my assessment soon. Thank you

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==

Hello everyone, I'm new to this site, signed up last night. I did my role play and SBI on 27/10 and received my conditional offer on 7/11 so 9 working days.

I'm absolutely over the moon, and congratulations to everyone else who got offers.

I returned all the completed documents on 8/11 (I presume they will get back to me if anything needs clarification).

I'm now mentally preparing myself for a 1 year wait to start, anything else will be a bonus.

Happy to answer any questions about my journey this far, although I was sure I'd failed my SBI.

Good luck to anyone else about to embark on this journey.

Role applied for CSA2 Full Time.
Congratulations on passing and getting the job! I keep seeing everyone talking about SBI what does that stand for? I am on my second assessment and wondering if you could help me with the scenario assessment? Can you tell me what your scenario was and what you said, how you dealt with it, any keys words?
Please and thank you. I would really appreciate it.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==

I received my conditional offer 8 days later after my roleplay and sbi on the 9th of Oct. My roleplay was about a person who needed help getting from point A to point B with a family member who is on a wheelchair. My SBI was on a group of youths messing around and shoving eachother which caused them to bump into other people. Some of them had e-scooters and only a few paid whilst the majority pushed throught the barriers.
Hi, well done for passing.
What is SBI?
I am in my second assessment and would really appreciate it if you could help me with the scenario part. What did you day, how did you deal with it, any key words?
Thank you I would really appreciate it.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==

Just received my conditional offer absolutely over the moon
Hi, well done for passing.

What is SBI?

I am in my second assessment and would really appreciate it if you could help me with the scenario part. What did you day, how did you deal with it, any key words?

Thank you I would really appreciate it.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==

Hi all,
I am new to here.
I have my second assessment for TFL CSA.
I am trying to prepare and get as much information as possible for all stages.
I have been reading through some scenarios and would really appreciate it anyone can help me with these. I am really nervous about role play and being on the stop in interviews. I am more confident in the job role than doing interviews. Please can anyone give me examples and how you dealt with the scenarios, any key words. Ect.

Thank you

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==

Hello everyone, I'm new to this site, signed up last night. I did my role play and SBI on 27/10 and received my conditional offer on 7/11 so 9 working days.

I'm absolutely over the moon, and congratulations to everyone else who got offers.

I returned all the completed documents on 8/11 (I presume they will get back to me if anything needs clarification).

I'm now mentally preparing myself for a 1 year wait to start, anything else will be a bonus.

Happy to answer any questions about my journey this far, although I was sure I'd failed my SBI.

Good luck to anyone else about to embark on this journey.

Role applied for CSA2 Full Time.
Hi, well done for passing.

What is SBI?

I am in my second assessment and would really appreciate it if you could help me with the scenario part. What did you day, how did you deal with it, any key words?

Thank you I would really appreciate it.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==

Hello everyone, I'm new to this site, signed up last night. I did my role play and SBI on 27/10 and received my conditional offer on 7/11 so 9 working days.

I'm absolutely over the moon, and congratulations to everyone else who got offers.

I returned all the completed documents on 8/11 (I presume they will get back to me if anything needs clarification).

I'm now mentally preparing myself for a 1 year wait to start, anything else will be a bonus.

Happy to answer any questions about my journey this far, although I was sure I'd failed my SBI.

Good luck to anyone else about to embark on this journey.

Role applied for CSA2 Full Time.
Hi, well done for passing.

What is SBI?

I am in my second assessment and would really appreciate it if you could help me with the scenario part. What did you day, how did you deal with it, any key words?

Thank you I would really appreciate it.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==

I received my conditional offer 8 days later after my roleplay and sbi on the 9th of Oct. My roleplay was about a person who needed help getting from point A to point B with a family member who is on a wheelchair. My SBI was on a group of youths messing around and shoving eachother which caused them to bump into other people. Some of them had e-scooters and only a few paid whilst the majority pushed throught the barriers.
Hi, well done for passing.

What is SBI?

I am in my second assessment and would really appreciate it if you could help me with the scenario part. What did you day, how did you deal with it, any key words?

Thank you I would really appreciate it.
 
Last edited:

markazz

Member
Joined
8 Nov 2025
Messages
65
Location
Highbury
SBI stands for Scenario Based Interview (happy to be corrected). Rather than asking you "tell me about a time you......." They give you a scenario and see you how would approach it. You get about 10 minutes prepartion time. My advice would be to not get bogged down on the individual scenarios as they are all different. Be prepared to say why you took the actions and what you thought the result would be.

They day before my assessment I did ask an existing CSA what it was like (I made sure they were not busy dealing with a customer). They had been a CSA for 25 years so it has probably changed umpteen times since they started, the advice - don't overthink it, be yourself. They are looking to see how you handle the situation.

This probably isn't a great deal of help and apologies for that.

Good luck with your assessment.

Markazz

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==

Am still waiting for the reed link
@bluegoblin7 has the best advice - be patient. I sent everything back the day after receiving the offer email, I fully expect not to hear anything at all for at least a month or two.

All good things come to those that wait.

All the best.
 

007_green

Member
Joined
12 Nov 2025
Messages
10
Location
London
Hi everyone, I did my AC1 assessment for CSA2 on the 5th of November, no response yet, i know its not up to 14 working days yet, just wanted to check if anyone else did on or around the same date, and if you have gotten a response back?
 

Ell1809

Member
Joined
7 Oct 2025
Messages
16
Location
London
Has anyone received a conditional offer and received the Reed link yet? (For recent CSA recruitment campaign)
 

Zb0905

Member
Joined
29 Dec 2023
Messages
393
Location
London
Statistics for this year’s campaign as of 13 November 2025
 

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west london

New Member
Joined
7 Sep 2025
Messages
3
Location
feltham
Good evening everyone,
I recently received the conditional offer for Csa2 role.I was wondering ,if anyone knows about the colour vision requirement for this role.I do have colour deficiency and one of the staff told me that as long as i declare , it should be fine since its not safety critical job.But, at the same time I am worried if its gonna stop me from growing inside the company in future such as going for csa1/css etc.
If i am going to be working as CSA2 only, then i might withdraw my application.Can any one help me please, if my colour deficiency will stop me working roles other than csa2??
 

Burry

Member
Joined
4 Jun 2024
Messages
104
Location
london
Good evening everyone,
I recently received the conditional offer for Csa2 role.I was wondering ,if anyone knows about the colour vision requirement for this role.I do have colour deficiency and one of the staff told me that as long as i declare , it should be fine since its not safety critical job.But, at the same time I am worried if its gonna stop me from growing inside the company in future such as going for csa1/css etc.
If i am going to be working as CSA2 only, then i might withdraw my application.Can any one help me please, if my colour deficiency will stop me working roles other than csa2??
When did you get offered the job? Which date did they email you
 

Zb0905

Member
Joined
29 Dec 2023
Messages
393
Location
London
Good evening everyone,
I recently received the conditional offer for Csa2 role.I was wondering ,if anyone knows about the colour vision requirement for this role.I do have colour deficiency and one of the staff told me that as long as i declare , it should be fine since its not safety critical job.But, at the same time I am worried if its gonna stop me from growing inside the company in future such as going for csa1/css etc.
If i am going to be working as CSA2 only, then i might withdraw my application.Can any one help me please, if my colour deficiency will stop me working roles other than csa2??
Don’t withdraw your application it’s hard to join TfL as it is lol
 

bluegoblin7

Established Member
Joined
10 May 2011
Messages
2,166
Location
JB
Good evening everyone,
I recently received the conditional offer for Csa2 role.I was wondering ,if anyone knows about the colour vision requirement for this role.I do have colour deficiency and one of the staff told me that as long as i declare , it should be fine since its not safety critical job.But, at the same time I am worried if its gonna stop me from growing inside the company in future such as going for csa1/css etc.
If i am going to be working as CSA2 only, then i might withdraw my application.Can any one help me please, if my colour deficiency will stop me working roles other than csa2??
The short answer is “it depends”.

The slightly longer answer is not necessarily, but you absolutely should declare this as soon as possible and there will have to be an acceptance that this will limit what jobs you can do - this applies to all railway jobs to be honest.

LUL is certainly leading the way in accommodating staff with colour vision deficiencies, with individuals now able to drive trains on the Jubilee and Northern lines. There are also several staff in service control and on stations, albeit with some restrictions depending on their exact deficiencies. There probably would be some limitations to progressing to CSS but I wouldn’t rule it out, and certainly not CSA1.

If you have red/green deficiency that is generally one of the most restrictive in terms of roles for what I hope are rather obvious safety reasons, but again on LUL that doesn’t necessarily preclude working on an ATO line where the importance of red and green are diminished (LUL doesn’t rely solely on red for any emergency reasons).

Ultimately there is no firm answer here because it will depend on the strength and nature of your colour vision challenges, but withdrawing your application on those grounds would be premature - accepting I probably have an LUL bias, you certainly won’t easily get a job with similar pay and benefits as CSA2, and certainly not on the railway if you are wanting to progress.

All that said: this shouldn’t constitute formal advice and if you are thinking of withdrawing your application you shouldn’t change your mind based on a stranger on the internet. Health problems like this are very personal and nuanced, and with the information given this can only be seen as a top level summary.

Finally, and more generally, to reiterate a point I’ve made before: progression to CSA1 should not be taken as a given. Whilst it has become routine over recent years (in part due to LU/union agreements and general staff turnover) you are applying for the role of CSA2 and should expect to work in that role for the foreseeable future. I can best liken it to an extended probation and is entirely discretionary - there are some staff who haven’t been automatically promoted for various reasons.
 

west london

New Member
Joined
7 Sep 2025
Messages
3
Location
feltham
When did you get offered the job? Which date did they email you
i received my offer 2 weeks ago:)

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==

Don’t withdraw your application it’s hard to join TfL as it is lol
yep, i realized that ,when i went through the stages:)

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==

The short answer is “it depends”.

The slightly longer answer is not necessarily, but you absolutely should declare this as soon as possible and there will have to be an acceptance that this will limit what jobs you can do - this applies to all railway jobs to be honest.

LUL is certainly leading the way in accommodating staff with colour vision deficiencies, with individuals now able to drive trains on the Jubilee and Northern lines. There are also several staff in service control and on stations, albeit with some restrictions depending on their exact deficiencies. There probably would be some limitations to progressing to CSS but I wouldn’t rule it out, and certainly not CSA1.

If you have red/green deficiency that is generally one of the most restrictive in terms of roles for what I hope are rather obvious safety reasons, but again on LUL that doesn’t necessarily preclude working on an ATO line where the importance of red and green are diminished (LUL doesn’t rely solely on red for any emergency reasons).

Ultimately there is no firm answer here because it will depend on the strength and nature of your colour vision challenges, but withdrawing your application on those grounds would be premature - accepting I probably have an LUL bias, you certainly won’t easily get a job with similar pay and benefits as CSA2, and certainly not on the railway if you are wanting to progress.

All that said: this shouldn’t constitute formal advice and if you are thinking of withdrawing your application you shouldn’t change your mind based on a stranger on the internet. Health problems like this are very personal and nuanced, and with the information given this can only be seen as a top level summary.

Finally, and more generally, to reiterate a point I’ve made before: progression to CSA1 should not be taken as a given. Whilst it has become routine over recent years (in part due to LU/union agreements and general staff turnover) you are applying for the role of CSA2 and should expect to work in that role for the foreseeable future. I can best liken it to an extended probation and is entirely discretionary - there are some staff who haven’t been automatically promoted for various reasons.
I really appreciate your explanation and thanks for taking your time to explain it to me .Good day.
 
Last edited:

Mawkie

Established Member
Joined
17 Feb 2016
Messages
1,290
Where did you find this info? This is very interesting, over 15k down to a few hundred is insane
The previous campaigns are disclosed in a TfL FOI request.
Screenshot_2025-11-19-09-52-36-23_3aea4af51f236e4932235fdada7d1643.jpg
Campaign 45768 (the campaign on which this thread was created) attracted 17674 applications with 174 hired (0.98%).

The campaign prior to that, 32034 applications were made with 564 hired (1.76%).

Seems like the total number of applications has declined over the last 3 CSA campaigns.

As we often hear "Hard job to get, easy job to lose."
 

Zb0905

Member
Joined
29 Dec 2023
Messages
393
Location
London
Where did you find this info? This is very interesting, over 15k down to a few hundred is insane
I made a personal foi request

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==

The previous campaigns are disclosed in a TfL FOI request.
View attachment 192517
Campaign 45768 (the campaign on which this thread was created) attracted 17674 applications with 174 hired (0.98%).

The campaign prior to that, 32034 applications were made with 564 hired (1.76%).

Seems like the total number of applications has declined over the last 3 CSA campaigns.

As we often hear "Hard job to get, easy job to lose."
I think because it released at the end of Augusts everyone was still on holiday and never saw it
 

ac2552

Member
Joined
26 Jul 2024
Messages
114
Location
Hertfordshire
The previous campaigns are disclosed in a TfL FOI request.
View attachment 192517
Campaign 45768 (the campaign on which this thread was created) attracted 17674 applications with 174 hired (0.98%).

The campaign prior to that, 32034 applications were made with 564 hired (1.76%).

Seems like the total number of applications has declined over the last 3 CSA campaigns.

As we often hear "Hard job to get, easy job to lose."
Being part of 0.98%… now that puts it into perspective!
 

DEANCB4

New Member
Joined
25 Nov 2025
Messages
1
Location
London
Hi. What are the attributes or competencies you are expected to show in a roleplay for TFL/CSA role
 

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