The Role Of A Train Driver - What Being A Train Driver Involves

If you're a rail enthusiast, or personally know a train driver, then you will probably already have a good idea of what the day to day life of a train driver is like. However in recent times, applicants for train driver jobs and vacancies are increasingly coming from candidates 'off the street' - people from outside the rail industry, who have heard what the benefits of the job are, and have pursued the job because of this.In this section of the site I will give an outline of what an average day of a train driver would look like. This will give you a good idea of whether or not you still wish to pursue this career choice, and also help with the recruitment process, as when applying you will have to tailor you're answers to demonstrate that you have the attributes and qualities of a successful train driver candidate! You will also no doubt be asked what you're expectations of the job are when being interviewed, but we will get to that part in more detail later.

Train Driver shift working

The most obvious aspect of working on the railway as a train driver, is the move to shift working. You will normally be working either 'early' turns or 'late' turns. Depending on the rail company you work for, early turns can be anything from 3am starts to 9am starts. Accordingly, early finishes will range from 10am to 6pm depending on what time you started. Likewise, late turns can be anything from late morning starts to early evening starts, finishing from 8pm right through to the small hours of the morning. Some companies will also require you to work night shifts - whilst hours vary between companies, the point is that your starting and finishing times can be quite extreme.

This aspect of the job may seem trivial, but it has a big impact on your life, and is heavily focused on in the recruitment process. Be sure to get the message across to the recruiting team that you understand the shift work involved, and are capable of dealing with it, without it affecting your ability to perform you're job safely. And get to used to pressing home that point - "doing the job safely" is possibly the most important aspect to working as a train driver. Train Driving is an extremely responsible job, and you will be required to adjust your lifestyle accordingly - say farewell to frequent nights out and a few beers with friends. You will have to organise your social life around work. Trust is placed in the Driver to follow procedures and do their job safely. It will be up to you to conduct yourself professionally at all times.

Although shift working may be something most people aren't too keen on, in my opinion you are more than compensated for this by one of my favourite aspects of the job - the four day week. Most rail operating companies will have a 4 day week of some sort in place for their drivers. You will usually work an average on a 35 hours, 4 day week. Although some weeks you might work more or less, it averages out at this. On one hand, shift working can have a very negative impact on your life, but on the other, the 4 day week has a tremendously positive impact. No wonder you're so keen on becoming a train driver!! I have found that the sacrifice of working shifts is more than made up for by having a 4 day week.

A note on Sundays: Sunday working will again vary depending on where you work, some companies will have it incorporated into their rota, others will rely on voluntary working (as successfully demonstrated recently by London Midland) But in my opinion, it's not a major thing, the benefits of the job more than make up for the possibility of having to work some sundays.

Rest day working: Again, varies by company, but opportunities will usually exist for you to work your rest days, either one of them, or all of them if the work is going. The same goes with overtime. Opening yourself up to this overtime will really boost your income, and it's not unknown for some drivers to earn in excess of £70k per annum. Most drivers can quite easily top their salaries up to the £50k region simply by doing the odd rest day here and there, without adversely affecting their quality of life. I think you're starting to see why there are 300 applicants for every vacancy....

For more on the upsides of life as a train driver, check out the train drivers pay section

Your fellow workers: The railway is quite hierarchical, and is based around seniority. As a new starter, you will be lowest in seniority, but this will not affect your day to day life very much at all. It's quite a male dominated world, highly unionised, and somewhat split between 'off the street' recent joiners, and those who have been on the railway all their life. This is not always the case though, and is certainly nothing to worry about. But it does help to understand the nature of the workplace you are hoping to enter. I can guarantee you it's like no other industry!

Train Drivers and safety

So now you understand the basics of life in the railway. What is it like actually doing the job? Well, on an average 9 hour day, you may be driving for anywhere up to 6 hours. The rest of the time will be spent on breaks, travelling to and from your required destination (e.g you take a train from London to Birmingham, and your next job is to take a train from Cardiff to London, you would then travel as a passenger from Birmingham to Cardiff to pick up your next train)

So on to safety - the most important attribute required in a train driver. You are responsible for hundreds of passengers, one mistake could cause a serious accident and loss of life. You will have to arrive for work fully refreshed and able to conduct your duties safely - no heavy drinking the night before! Whilst driving the train you will have to remain alert, able to react to anything that may occur. You will be working set routes which you have learnt, and stopping at any stations as listed on your diagram. You will be expected to fully know your route - speeds, junctions, stations, adhesion conditions, gradients, controlling signaller, and placement of signals, amongst many other things. You will react and respond to these components, and you have the general public to deal with too! So customer service skills are also necessary nowadays. Safety is paramount - always keep this at the forefront of your mind.

Driving the train

You may have wondered why I have left this part until last. Surely it's the main part of the job? Surely it's the main thing we need to know about? NO! The person interviewing you will know that you are from outside the industry, and as such will not know the ins and outs of how trains work, how to operate them, and the rules governing their use. The main things they are looking at are; is this person able to work safely? is he reliable? is he going to pass the expensive training course? Is he a worthwhile investment? That's the main thing on every manager's mind. The training course that you will be out on is a big cost to the company, and as such they want to ensure that whoever they select, will actually pass the course and give them a return of their investment. So you don't really need to know much about the trains themselves. The main things you need to be aware of are adhesion conditions in different types of weather (wet rails = slippery = brake earlier), 'defensive thinking' = being prepared for anything that may happen, getting enough sleep etc, and doing things in a 'failsafe' manner - i.e if you're not sure, don't do it.

Hopefully this section has given you a basic understanding of what to expect when embarking on a train driver career, and what kind of subjects you will be expected to have knowledge of in your interview. Don't get bogged down with details, you will not be expected to know everything. The best approach to take for the train driver recruitment process, is to have safety and reliability at the forefront of your mind. But I will go into the recruitment process more in the guide to recruitment sections.

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