NR - Operative (signalling maintenance)

[19scott90]

Hi all,

I'm in the process of applying to become an Operative... have just taken the online assessment and am waiting to hear back.

Are there any existing Operatives that may be able to give me an insight into the role? What's a usual working day consist of? As it's signalling maintenance I'd assume there's a particular focus of work?

I'm used to hard graft and unsociable working hours (currently work permanent nights Sun - Thurs) in a factory but one thing I'm particular keen to know is the shift pattern? Is there a set shift pattern? 8 hr or 12hr shifts?

Thanks in advance.

Kind Regards,
Scott

 

[alxndr]

There are various things involved in signalling maintenance. Day to day you'll be maintaining various signalling assets. The most are largely electrical and will consist of carrying out voltage readings (location cases, track circuits, axle counters, signals, TPWS, AWS etc) as well as giving them a general check and clean. Other things are more mechanical such as points, or in certain areas might include mechanical signals too.

Lots of maintenance teams also carry out faulting, so you might be called to failures as well, depending on how your local area is run and the team you're with. I personally relish the challenge and interest of faulting and the satisfaction of putting something right. Even if you're solely a maintenance team you might get involved in remedial works if you find something out of spec during maintenance which adds a bit of variety anyway.

As an operative you might get landed with a fair bit of driving and lookout duties—once you gain the ticket—especially if you've not got the technical knowledge or competencies. The best thing to do is show keenness to learn (if that's what you want, some people are perfectly happy without aiming further) and get stuck in when you can. A good team leader will pick up on it, share out work fairly, and can have a wealth of knowledge to share! It can initially be a little daunting at first with the amount of different bits of kit to learn about, but it does all start to "click" in the end, and no one ever knows absolutely everything.

As for shift patterns, it entirely depends on the area. Across the country I've heard of shifts being 7, 8, 9, 10, or 12 hours long. 8s and 12s are probably the most common though, with 12hr weekend shifts being reasonably common and shorter ones during the week.