Train Driver London Underground

[filthiestfis]

What are the requirements needed to become a train driver for London Underground?

[raysparx1]

I will e-mail Lonnie for you he works on the underground

[filthiestfis]

Thanks a lot Ray. I had been led to understand that you had to work in a customer service role for one year before applying to become a driver. I hope this is not the case!

[raysparx1]

I have mailed Lonnie, if he is about he will be on, he may be working, I am sure he said he drives on the underground, Ray

[filthiestfis]

Thanks Ray.

[Lonnie]

Hi filth,
Just got Rays email,

London Uderground aren't recruiting direct recruiting direct recruit train drivers any more, they may do again at some point, however, if thats what you want to do, the thing then, is to come on as a station assistant, or any other job on the Underground, and from there apply for a drivers job.

Station Assistant earns good money, plus you'll get a free pass for the Buses and Trains.

Be warned though, its shiftwork, I just got home about 20.00hrs, left this morning at 07.30hrs, and you'll have to travel for your job, eg, whever you live, you may get posted at the other end of the combine, but if you can get in, its worth it.

As a Train Driver, you'd be expected to get the train moving if it breaks down, (which happens quite a lot), learn rudimentary first aid, all the different fire hydrants.
But you get intensive training on all that, Rules and Regs, Train Equipment.

If theirs anything specific you want to know, post back.

Good luck.

Now-a-days, you have to apply through Transport for London (tfl),

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/

Jobs are at the bottom of the page.

[Lonnie]

Hi filth,
Just got Rays email,

London Uderground aren't recruiting direct recruiting direct recruit train drivers any more, they may do again at some point, however, if thats what you want to do, the thing then, is to come on as a station assistant, or any other job on the Underground, and from there apply for a drivers job.

Station Assistant earns good money, plus you'll get a free pass for the Buses and Trains.

Be warned though, its shiftwork, I just got home about 20.00hrs, left this morning at 07.30hrs, and you'll have to travel for your job, eg, whever you live, you may get posted at the other end of the combine, but if you can get in, its worth it.

As a Train Driver, you'd be expected to get the train moving if it breaks down, (which happens quite a lot), learn rudimentary first aid, all the different fire hydrants.
But you get intensive training on all that, Rules and Regs, Train Equipment.

If theirs anything specific you want to know, post back, and i'll give you the best answer I can.

Good luck.

Now-a-days, you have to apply through Transport for London (tfl),

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/

Jobs are at the bottom of the page.

[Lonnie]

Posted twice by mistake, apologies for that.

[filthiestfis]

Thanks a lot for your reply Lonnie. I was asking about this to a trainee train driver I met via youtube and he says that he did not have to become a customer assistant first, which surprises me.
What worries me about it is being spat on or abused in some other way by the riff raff.

[Lonnie]

Missed something out, just to give an example, my yonger brother had to work as a S/A for a year, in that time, he applied for anything and everything, doing that gets you noticed, he's now a Line Controller, so if you can stick it for a bit, it pays dividends.

[filthiestfis]

What does a line controller do? Is it same pay as train driver?

[Lonnie]

I'd be very surprised if he is a direct recruit, (off the street), although it is possible, London Underground have experimented about three times with direct recruit drivers, and each time was a mess, mostly Spads, (signals passed at danger), thing is, any driver of some years will have had al least one, but its not the actual Spad, its what you do afterwards, and for some reason, direct recruits nearly always did the wrong thing, down to lack of experience of railway life, which is why they stopped it,

As for being attacked, spat on, yes, this does happen, but rarely, mostly, its down to the attitude of some of the staff, eg, if you are a Station Assistant, detraining the last train, and you find someone asleep, possibly drunk, how would you try to wake them?. do it the wrong way, and you could find yourself in hospital, the train driver, if he's an old hand, will say, 'nothing to do with me', and call the Station staff.

Also, what you have to remember, is that the majority of passengers aren't 'riff raff', i'm assuming that is what the youtube chap called them, they pay our wages, most understand when the jobs up the wall, that we are doing our best, and are patient.

The best one i've had, was after a 'one under' (person under a train, mostly suicides, had a woman ask how long will the delay be, because she had a connection to make,

Takes all sorts. cont

[Lonnie]

Line Controller.

This grade is promotion from Train Driver or any grade including Station Assistant, we get a weekly mag called a 'Traffic Circular', and internal jobs are advertised in that.

As you probably know, we have different lines, i'm on the Central Line, If for whatever reason, theirs a service disruption, he/she has to get it back to normal, by cancelling trains, short tripping them etc,
They have to know as much as us drivers about the trains, plus everything about the Stations and the job in general.

Why not find out where your nearest depot is, ask to speak to a manager, preferably the TCM (Train Crew Manager), he;s the big cheese in the depots, tell him your thinking of applying for a job, with the view of becoming a Train Driver, and would it be possible to have a trip with an Instuctor Operator, thats a driver who instructs learners, and takes us for our annual tests, to find out if you'd like it, he/she would also be able to answer any questions.

This does happen, I know, because we've had a couple at our depot.

[culvers]

Posted this before: Sites like http://www.traindrivertrainee.com have good information on how to become a train driver, however you will have to find a vacancy first which will always be on the tfl careers site. They probably wont be advertising for external candidates for some time now, so the only other way is to join london underground as platform staff, and then work your way up....