uk.railway FAQ |
Mike Ball writes:
As regards the standards required: You must have good eyesight (with glasses if worn), normal colour vision and hearing. You must be generally fit, with no history of blackouts, epilepsy etc., and you will be screened for drug abuse. You will have to be at least 21 and under about 45. You will be sent to a testing centre, such as Doncaster, where you will undergo various tests.
These tests include things such as looking at lines of dots on a page, and only checking those that have, say, patterns of four dots. You would have a whole A4 page, and the dots are small, and you only get a short time, so you are unlikely to reach the bottom of he page. The point is to work as quickly and accurately as possible.
In another test you are played, via headphones, a short story, and you then have to answer questions about it from memory.
Then there are the reaction tests. For example, a green light you push a white button, a red light you push a black button, a high buzz you use your left foot, a low buzz your right foot. The sounds start off slowly, and get faster and faster.
If you pass these tests, and the interviews, and medical, and you get the job, there are several months training to do, plus route learning, before you get to drive a train on your own.
In the classroom you would learn the major rules and regulations. Things such as signalling regulations and what procedures to follow. How to carry out single line working, wrong direction movements, working under temporary block, passing signals at danger - when you can and cannot, and the regulations appertaining to such moves. Everything to do with personal safety on or about the line. Protection of trains in case of failure or obstruction. Dealing with fires.
Then there is training related to whatever stock you will drive in the course of your duties. You will learn about the equipment on each type of stock. How to sort out failures - whilst keeping within the regulations you've learnt above. You would visit a depot, and learn and practice this with the actual stock under the guidance and supervision of a qualified instructor driver.
Oh yes, and you are taken out, with a Driver Instructor, and taught how to drive, how to recognise signals, and how to put into practice all you've learned in the classroom.
You will need to pass examinations on:
- Rules
- Traction theory and fault finding
- Practical driving.
You will also be examined on route knowledge later.
When you've done all that, and hopefully passed it all, you are given a road learning ticket each day (which gives you authority to be in the leading cab), and you ride around and learn the routes which pertain to your depot. When you are satisfied you know where the stations, signals, level crossings, and other important features are, you are then tested on this by a Driver Standards Manager (DSM). If he/she is satisfied at your level of knowledge, you then sign a route card for that route. You are then fully qualified to drive the traction you have previously passed on, over that section of line. You then learn the next section etc.
Once you've learned a few routes, you will find yourself being booked out driving over these routes, and in between driving duties you will get days to learn the rest of the routes you need to know. This knowledge is good for up to 6 months, after which you can cross the route off your card, or ask for time to refresh your knowledge over that section.
Also, as a qualified driver, you are examined at regular intervals by a DSM. They will take a ride with you to check your driving, and also ask you questions about rules and regulations to check and underpin your knowledge. You also get safety briefing days when you are shown videos on things such as driving in snow, and driving techniques in the leaf fall season.
However Chris Pile adds:
My experience is that glasses are *not* permitted. Back in '94 I passed all the aptitude tests and the interview to become a train driver with South West Trains.
My aptitude tests, interview and medical were carried out at London Bridge. I passed all of the medical requirements except for the eyesight. I don't wear glasses normally, but I do wear them for driving. My corrected vision is 6/5, which is better than the value of perfect sight (6/6).
I was told that because my un-corrected vision wasn't 6/6 I would never be allowed to drive a train. So, unless the rules have changed since '94, you can't drive a train unless your un-corrected vision is perfect.
"Rail User" writes:
The assessment (different for drivers, conductors & signal-persons, this is about the driver assessment) starts with a mechanical comprehension test (MT4), 40 Qs in 15 mins, all fairly basic (to me), though some people were not confident about how they'd dome on this.
Next is Trainability for Rules & Procedures (TRP), part1 - comprehension. Listen to a tape about sandite (well, "glop" as they called it, not a factually correct account by any means), read the passage, make notes, have all your stuff taken away after 3 mins, answer 10 Qs (and 10 unmarked experimental Qs if you had time) in 7 mins.
Part 2 of TRP - you're given a reference sheet telling you about some dials and whether they're in danger pointing left or right. You can keep this and scrap paper during the test. The questions are in the form of a number of arrows pointing various directions and several combinations of danger/safe indications (multiple choice). So you've got to work out which ones are danger/safe, work out which of the given combinations matches, and scribble on the relevant box on the answer sheet (everything so far was multiple choice). 5 mins to do 10 of the so you've got to work fast.
Then the infamous dots. You're given a big sheet of paper with 5 panels on it, each with 25 columns. They contain patterns of 3, 4 or 5 dots and you've got to cross out patterns of 4. Every 2 mins the tester says 'change' and you move on to the next panel. 10 mins of solid concentration. 2 people failed on that & went home.
The rest of us got taken (2 or 3 at a time 'cos they've only got 4 computers) to the reactions test. You're sat in front or a computer with a blank grey screen except for 2 empty boxes, one in each bottom corner. These light up to tell you to press the left or right foot pedal. Your headphones play high or low tones for you to press the 2ukp-coin sized 'H' or 'L' buttons on either side of the modified keyboard. Anywhere on the screen can appear 2ukp-coin sized circles of blue, white, yellow, red or green and you respond by pressing the appropriately coloured key.
You get 2 practice runs then 2, 5-minute tests. One of them moves on regardless so sometimes you get left behind, the other only moves on when you've responded correctly so you're under pressure "Am I going fast enough?"
Then off we went for a free lunch and came back to find out that 3 people had failed that bit. Before lunch we'd answered some questions similar to the original application form (give an example of when you've had to follow rules & procedures, give an example of when you've been in an emergency/unexpected situation). The two of us left were then interviewed on these, basically asked a standard list of questions and she said she'd never failed anyone on the interview. You were only going to fail if you said something stupid like "I don't approve of following rules & regulations"
That was last Friday and it took from 9:45am to 3:00pm. Tuesday I got a phone call from NWT "can you come for an interview tomorrow?" So I went for my interview, didn't get a chance to use any of the stuff I'd prepared, didn't actually say much to be honest, and subject to medical (can you see, can you hear, can you walk, do you take drugs) I'll start on the 21st.
There are apparently 40 drivers starting the course then, of whom 11 (at the time of my interview) have been selected from the 1,000 application forms distributed at the open day at the beginning of August. 1 in 5 applicants pass the aptitude tests (and you can't resit them for 6 months).