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A career as a signaller

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godfreycomplex

Established Member
Joined
23 Jun 2016
Messages
1,296
That’s a shocker. I‘m baffled by the stick-in-the-muds in the signalling and control fraternities who swear by eight hour rosters.
It is an absolute widowmaker that particular roster.
Plus the only realistic chance of overtime is on the only extended period of rest you get, and living in and around the plateau isn’t cheap.

It is more or less the only bad thing about the Direct boxes though, they’re all pretty nice places to work in their own separate ways
 

Enviro200mmc

Member
Joined
20 Jul 2021
Messages
6
Location
Cornwall
Hi all, new to this Forum. Can I ask about the Fixed Term Contract positions that are being advertised for Cornwall. I presume these are FTC until 2023 because of the movement of Cornwall control to Exeter PSB?
 
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Six Bells

Member
Joined
20 Jul 2021
Messages
23
Location
Away
Hi folks.

I currently work as a signaller for Network Rail and have a couple of questions regarding the Crewe PSB vacancy that is currently on the internal vacancy list.

1. Does anybody have an idea of the shift rota at Crewe? Is it 8 or 12 hours?
2. I am only AB (Absolute Block) trained; if I were to apply and be successful, am I right in thinking that there is still the option of a 2 week TCB conversion course? Or would I have to redo IST?

Thanks in advance for any replies.
 
Joined
24 Jul 2011
Messages
442
Location
Wigan
Hi folks.

I currently work as a signaller for Network Rail and have a couple of questions regarding the Crewe PSB vacancy that is currently on the internal vacancy list.

1. Does anybody have an idea of the shift rota at Crewe? Is it 8 or 12 hours?
2. I am only AB (Absolute Block) trained; if I were to apply and be successful, am I right in thinking that there is still the option of a 2 week TCB conversion course? Or would I have to redo IST?

Thanks in advance for any replies.
Afraid I can't answer most of your questions, however when I did a TCB conversion course last year, it was only a week long.
 
Joined
23 May 2019
Messages
61
Don’t take this as gospel by any means but round my way trainee signallers go back at the end of AB course to do the TCB week on the basis that they have it under their belts if the decide to move on, and if they don’t do it then they would have to do the whole course again.
 

Highlandspring

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Joined
14 Oct 2017
Messages
2,778
Just doing the TCB conversion week is definitely a thing, I know a few who have had to do it over the years. In fact I’ve never heard of a qualified signaller being put back to school to do the initial course over again; what would be the point of that? It’s a waste of money from the LOM’s budget if nothing else.
 

Falcon1200

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Joined
14 Jun 2021
Messages
3,576
Location
Neilston, East Renfrewshire
I‘m baffled by the stick-in-the-muds in the signalling and control fraternities who swear by eight hour rosters.

Ah each to their own! I would hate permanent 12s, but don't mind them on weekends.

Pre-retirement my Control roster was 8 hours/12 hours at weekends, which suited me fine; Working 12 hours every shift would IMHO be horrendous, despite the extra Rest Days, while 12 hours at the weekends meant working fewer Saturdays and Sundays. What does surprise me is people still working 7 turn night shifts, we abandoned those many years ago, thank goodness, recovering from them took a while !
 

Six Bells

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20 Jul 2021
Messages
23
Location
Away
Cheers for your responses Splashoutradio, Block Back Bobby & Highland Spring; confirmed my initial suspicions that a conversion course would be enough. Sorry if it seemed a daft question, but as I say I have only worked AB boxes.

With regards to the shift question, my preference would be 12s too. I worked 12 hour shifts before joining the railway and the impact of the extra rest days more than make up for the long days. I work 8s in my current location, although we don't have a night shift so its a moot point.
 

jonge88

Member
Joined
21 Apr 2021
Messages
31
Location
South West
Hi all,

Can anybody give me an insight into what the psychometrics involve? I have in the past sat driver psychometrics, are they anything alike?

Thanks in advance.
 

LeGrimpeur

Member
Joined
26 Sep 2017
Messages
159
There's been no signaller vacancies posted for ages.
Any idea why? Assumed it was covid / training centre related.
Does the transfer to Great British rail affect this also?
Cheers
 

bouff34

Member
Joined
6 Nov 2018
Messages
138
There's been no signaller vacancies posted for ages.
Any idea why? Assumed it was covid / training centre related.
Does the transfer to Great British rail affect this also?
Cheers
I don't speak from an official position but probably because there are potentially large numbers of anticipated redundancies across the railways in various areas - hopefully not affecting signallers. This means that many vacancies for a while will only need to be advertised internally as there will be plenty of applicants looking to move from roles that are expected to disappear. I believe there is a recruitment embargo on non-essential roles... so it is much easier to recruit internally.
 

C00k1e

Member
Joined
20 Feb 2020
Messages
49
There's been no signaller vacancies posted for ages.
Any idea why? Assumed it was covid / training centre related.
Does the transfer to Great British rail affect this also?
Cheers
There have been and are currently several vacancies advertised nationwide from entry level vacancies to grade 9, all on the recruitment website.
 

Rover77

Member
Joined
15 Oct 2019
Messages
191
Location
UK
There have been and are currently several vacancies advertised nationwide from entry level vacancies to grade 9, all on the recruitment website.
I check for signaller roles in the North West everyday. I agree with LeGrimper regarding lack of signaller roles. COOKIE, am I missing something?
 

Rockhopper

Member
Joined
29 Apr 2019
Messages
736
There has been a recruitment freeze for the past nine months or so and going forward its likely that many more roles will be filled internally if they can. Roles being advertised at the moment are the critical ones they need to urgently fill for operational reasons. Its not going to get better anytime soon from what I'm hearing.
 

C00k1e

Member
Joined
20 Feb 2020
Messages
49
The signalling opportunities section of the recruitment website currently has 5 open vacancies (granted not for the north west!) and has had for several weeks. Geographically they range from Cumbria- Cornwall and are from grades 2-9. I check this daily and after speaking with recruitment earlier this week there will be ‘lots’ of opportunities in the near future.
 

Highlandspring

Established Member
Joined
14 Oct 2017
Messages
2,778
I check this daily and after speaking with recruitment earlier this week there will be ‘lots’ of opportunities in the near future.
Yes, after the voluntary redundancy scheme has run through the company like a dose of salts.
 

Defenestrate

Member
Joined
6 Aug 2019
Messages
130
Regarding vacancies advertised externally... NR have several official careers/jobs websites, which do not seem to link up in terms of what is being advertised. If you heard that the recruitment process is painful then this highlights one of the reasons why.
No, that doesn't make any sense.
Yes, it is still the case. *Three* links below:

www.networkrail.co.uk/careers/careers-search


 
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High Dyke

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Joined
1 Jan 2013
Messages
4,267
Location
Yellabelly Country
As much as possible really, I have applied for a grade 5 role there, I believe it’s on a 12hr roster? Is it west cad? And where does it work to/cover? Thank you
Hi. Yes the 'old folks home', as some of us know it as, is on a 12hr roster. Yes, it is all Westcad across the four workstations. It covers an area fringed by Swinderby (Newark/Nottingham line) Gainsborough Trent Jn (Retford / Doncaster line), Langworth (Barnetby line) and also South towards Werrington Jn (fringes to Peterborough PSB). It also works to/from both Sleaford signal boxes on the route towards Peterborough.
 

Amy1090

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Joined
11 Jun 2020
Messages
34
Location
Knottingley
Hi. Yes the 'old folks home', as some of us know it as, is on a 12hr roster. Yes, it is all Westcad across the four workstations. It covers an area fringed by Swinderby (Newark/Nottingham line) Gainsborough Trent Jn (Retford / Doncaster line), Langworth (Barnetby line) and also South towards Werrington Jn (fringes to Peterborough PSB). It also works to/from both Sleaford signal boxes on the route towards Peterborough.
Amazing thank you so much for the info, much appreciated!
 

H24

Member
Joined
23 Jul 2021
Messages
11
Location
England
Hello everybody, just did the aptitude testing for the Didcot Grade 9. Aptitude test was straight forward but the Grid Challenge was ridiculous. Almost impossible to do. Not sure what they are looking for in that test!
 

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