What are railway apprenticeships like?

[NorwichRailFan]

Hi. I am thinking of doing a Driver apprenticeship when i am old enough. Has anyone here ever done a railway apprenticeship? What's the experience like? Thanks in advance.

 

[iphone76]

I did mine a few years ago at the age of 37. I'm not sure if things have changed, but it was just the normal driver course, with the odd meeting with an external training provider to have chats about how things were going. They aligned the training course with the NVQ and program, so there wasn't anything extra to it. Some people even suggested it was just a ploy for the company to get an extra payment from the Government for not much/nothing extra, but obviously, they were just very cynical and that was totally far from the truth.

But if you can, definitely do it. Was the best thing I ever did.

 

[Abolaji]

I did mine a few years ago at the age of 37. I'm not sure if things have changed, but it was just the normal driver course, with the odd meeting with an external training provider to have chats about how things were going. They aligned the training course with the NVQ and program, so there wasn't anything extra to it. Some people even suggested it was just a ploy for the company to get an extra payment from the Government for not much/nothing extra, but obviously, they were just very cynical and that was totally far from the truth.

But if you can, definitely do it. Was the best thing I ever did.

Hello,

I received a SJT yesterday and I haven’t done one before.
Is there any hint you can support with?
And how many questions probably inside the online Situational Judgemental Test?

 

[iphone76]

Hello,

I received a SJT yesterday and I haven’t done one before.
Is there any hint you can support with?
And how many questions probably inside the online Situational Judgemental Test?

Hi.

It was a long whilst since I did mine. Which one is that?

If it is the one where you are presented with different situations and you have to answer with how you'd react, I'd say just answer honestly as when you are dealing with an overbearing manager or awkward colleague you have to know what you'd say.

Be honest and you'll be fine.

 

[Muse29]

Hello,

I received a SJT yesterday and I haven’t done one before.
Is there any hint you can support with?
And how many questions probably inside the online Situational Judgemental Test?

For trainee train driver (or pretty much any role on the railways), always prioritise safety when answering.

You will be presented with a scenario and given 4 options of actions to take. You need to rank your answers in the order of priority from best to worst possible action.

So your question might be something like: (this example is very rudimentary and not one I have seen on a test)

You are driving a train that has been stopped 400 metres outside of your final destination due to an incident in the station which has prompted an evacuation. You can see the platforms ahead but have been expressly told that you cannot enter the station until given clearance by the signaller.

After an hour, you still haven't received clearance and have no timescale as to when you will be able to move. Some passengers are starting to get restless as it is getting late and some people may miss the last bus home and be left stranded in the town centre at night.

The passengers ask you to to open the doors as it is only a short distance for them to walk to the station - what do you do?

A - Advise your passengers you will wait another hour to see if the situation resolves itself and if not, you will look at potentially opening the doors for them
B - Open the doors for the passengers and give them clear instruction as to which route to take in order to make it back to the station, ensuring their safety
C - Advise the passengers that you are unable to open the doors but will seek to keep them updated every 30 minutes as to the situation
D - Advise passengers you will open the doors and ask the conductor to lead them to the station

Customer service and mitigating delays is a huge part of railway operations and therefore, it may be tempting to prioritise the opening of the doors, especially as people could be left stranded in a town late at night. However, safety rules and procedures always come first. So your order would be:

C
A
D
B

In truth, options A, D and B are poor as you'd likely never open the doors unless it was a medical emergency and even then, you would need the support of the emergency services on site.

The questions will be less obvious than that example but you get the idea. Prioritise safety and following rules and procedures when giving your answers and you'll be fine.