Salary Comparison?

[paxman]

Hi everyone

I recently accepted a job driving intercity express trains. I'm straight off the street and it represents quite a career change for me.

One of the reasons I applied was that I like trains. The other reason was the salary. Assuming I pass the 18-month training course, I can expect the equivalent of GPB 90,000 a year with a 12-day fortnight (GBP 70,000 if I choose a regular 10-day fortnight). After one year, I'll also have the option of working alternating months on half salary. Coming from a high-stress corporate environment, I consider that this represents excellent value, even taking into account the relatively modest training wage (GBP 40,000).

I'm not in the UK. How do these wages and working conditions compare with those of other countries and operators? My impression is that I'm getting a pretty good deal; am I mistaken?

 

[Bromley boy]

Hi everyone

I recently accepted a job driving intercity express trains. I'm straight off the street and it represents quite a career change for me.

One of the reasons I applied was that I like trains. The other reason was the salary. Assuming I pass the 18-month training course, I can expect the equivalent of GPB 90,000 a year with a 12-day fortnight (GBP 70,000 if I choose a regular 10-day fortnight). After one year, I'll also have the option of working alternating months on half salary. Coming from a high-stress corporate environment, I consider that this represents excellent value, even taking into account the relatively modest training wage (GBP 40,000).

I'm not in the UK. How do these wages and working conditions compare with those of other countries and operators? My impression is that I'm getting a pretty good deal; am I mistaken?

Hmmm. In which country are you training, and with which company?

 

[BTU]

Hi everyone

I recently accepted a job driving intercity express trains. I'm straight off the street and it represents quite a career change for me.

One of the reasons I applied was that I like trains. The other reason was the salary. Assuming I pass the 18-month training course, I can expect the equivalent of GPB 90,000 a year with a 12-day fortnight (GBP 70,000 if I choose a regular 10-day fortnight). After one year, I'll also have the option of working alternating months on half salary. Coming from a high-stress corporate environment, I consider that this represents excellent value, even taking into account the relatively modest training wage (GBP 40,000).

I'm not in the UK. How do these wages and working conditions compare with those of other countries and operators? My impression is that I'm getting a pretty good deal; am I mistaken?

I don't call £40 k modest where are you based? I wouldn't mind that salary .

 

[455driver]

Oh goody, another thread about how much we get paid, started by somebody willy waving about how much he earns, brilliant!

 

[jballz72]

Willy waving

 

[TheEdge]

I'm moving to wherever you are, £40k training wage, yes please.

 

[paxman]

Oh goody, another thread about how much we get paid, started by somebody willy waving about how much he earns, brilliant!

Please accept my apologies - that was quite tactless on my part.

Rest assured that I'm a long, long way from earning my keep from driving. I haven't even started training.

I gather from the comments that this topic has already been broached ad nauseam elsewhere in the forum. As someone coming from outside the rail industry, I'm quite astonished at the generosity of the conditions offered by my employer. Hence my (authentic) curiosity about what is considered a decent driving wage elsewhere. No willy-waving intended.

The cost of living here is high, which distorts my apparent earning potential. I'd love to be able to pay British prices for rent, food and clothing.

As is surely obvious, I work - or will be working - for a government operator. No private operator could offer these sorts of conditions and remain in business. After all, it's driving trains, not piloting dive-bombers over Kursk.

Thanks again for everyone's replies. I'll be quiet now.

 

[Bromley boy]

Please accept my apologies - that was quite tactless

As is surely obvious, I work - or will be working - for a government operator. No private operator could offer these sorts of conditions and remain in business. After all, it's driving trains, not piloting dive-bombers over Kursk.

Thanks again for everyone's replies. I'll be quiet now.

Comments like this, coupled with the fact you you're refusing to disclose which operator you will be working for, or even which country you're in, make you sound slightly suspicious.

Are you a troll or a journalist (with an ironic username)?

 

[greatkingrat]

Well the wages sound good, but the working conditions sound pretty bad! How many hours a week does a 12 day fortnight come to?

 

[Greenback]

This thread is a bit pointless. Comparing salaries is next to impossible at the ebst of times, givne the different ecoinomies across the world. We know that countries like Switzerland are very expensive places to live, while others are much, much cheaper.

Without a context there is nothing really to discuss. hough I think it's fair to say there isn't going to be much to talk about even if we did know where paxman would be living and workling, the hours of work, etc.

 

[MartinB1]

What company and in which country are you starting your training?

Sent from my SM-A510F using Tapatalk

 

[Andy-mc]

is is an Aussie company? I know whey get paid $120k+ and their cost of living is fairly high
compared to the UK a fully qualified driver is on from around £45-60k training at around £18-22k so where ever you are is pretty decent depending on that countries Tax rates and cost of living

as others have said though you really need to disclose more information, the country at least

 

[TheEdge]

is is an Aussie company? I know whey get paid $120k+ and their cost of living is fairly high
compared to the UK a fully qualified driver is on from around £45-60k training at around £18-22k so where ever you are is pretty decent depending on that countries Tax rates and cost of living

as others have said though you really need to disclose more information, the country at least

I've got my money on Aussie, but I thought it was the freight drivers out on the mines who get the enourmous wages.

 

[BTU]

This thread is pointless Paxman aka secret squirrel cant or doesnt want to tell us what pat of the world he lives in, I think its cloud cuckoo land I dont really care what you earn youve lost me with this clueless thread.

 

[godfreycomplex]

This thread is pointless Paxman aka secret squirrel cant or doesnt want to tell us what pat of the world he lives in, I think its cloud cuckoo land I dont really care what you earn youve lost me with this clueless thread.

Apostrophes!
Let us not forget that it is culturally "acceptable" to ask these questions in different parts of the world; whereas it would be considered by some people to be unusual in the UK. There's no sense in giving the OP a hard time; he/she is just curious after all.

 

[MartinB1]

Apostrophes!
Let us not forget that it is culturally "acceptable" to ask these questions in different parts of the world; whereas it would be considered by some people to be unusual in the UK. There's no sense in giving the OP a hard time; he/she is just curious after all.

But why not give details of where he is? Or is it a case of it's not acceptable to give up information in different parts of the world? For the thread to go anywhere we really needed a bit more information about his situation.

Sent from my SM-A510F using Tapatalk

 

[Bromley boy]

Apostrophes!
Let us not forget that it is culturally "acceptable" to ask these questions in different parts of the world; whereas it would be considered by some people to be unusual in the UK. There's no sense in giving the OP a hard time; he/she is just curious after all.

It seems a little pedantic to comment on his grammar. He's posting on an Internet forum, not writing his CV!

He's quite right. It's a little pointless/strange to create a thread entitled "salary comparison" and then provide insufficient information to make said comparison.

 

[fowler9]

If the OP is, for example, Australian then if they converted their currency directly from Ozzy dollars to pounds then £40000 would seem a modest wage since everything over there is so much more expensive. If I convert my wage directly to Ozzy dollars and tried to live over there on it I would be on the streets. A mate of mine who has moved to Melbourne has a middle management job and his life is lived as such but when he comes back to the UK and converts his money he can live like a king.

 

[godfreycomplex]

It seems a little pedantic to comment on his grammar. He's posting on an Internet forum, not writing his CV!

He's quite right. It's a little pointless/strange to create a thread entitled "salary comparison" and then provide insufficient information to make said comparison.

OP has given the equivalent wage he will earn whilst training; and once he's passed out. That's quite sufficient to draw comparison. What more do you want, his inside leg measurement?

 

[Bromley boy]

OP has given the equivalent wage he will earn whilst training; and once he's passed out. That's quite sufficient to draw comparison. What more do you want, his inside leg measurement?

Inside leg measurement is unnecessary, but the courtesy of a response to those who've contributed to the thread so far, and posed valid questions, wouldn't go amiss.

Neither would something to establish the OP's credibility on this forum, beyond being a potential troll/journalist.

 

[Red18]

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