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Avanti West Coast recruiting QUALIFIED DRIVER TALENT POOL ONLY at London Euston, Liverpool, Manchester, and Wolverhampton depots. (Posted 1/2-09-2020)

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irish_rail

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They will be inundated. Especially for Liverpool which never recruits externally. Good luck to those applying.
 
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Evolution

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some may think it is..certainly with regards the salary gap between TPE and Avanti..plus Avanti will be running HS2.
That is far from a foregone conclusion.

TPE drivers have moved on to Avanti but similarly I know Avanti drivers who have moved to West Mids Trains.

There's a fine balance between having a high basic salary and good terms & conditions.
Exactly, there’s also drivers who’ve gone to Avanti and come back to TPE as the RD pattern and T&C’s aren’t brilliant compared to TPE. There’s a driver at my depot who left Avanti and came to TPE and he had been at BR/Virgin et ell for 25 years and in his own words “it isn’t what it used to be” all the best T&C’s have been sold off and going to London and back soon gets old. A long time in the chair, failures at the wrong side of Rugby and you’re stuck for hours, miles away from home.

At TPE you drive better traction, more “interesting, varied routes” and I mean come on a class 68 blows a boring Pendo out of the water. Each to their own I guess.
 
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irish_rail

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.....

That is far from a foregone conclusion.


Exactly, there’s also drivers who’ve gone to Avanti and come back to TPE as the RD pattern and T&C’s aren’t brilliant compared to TPE. There’s a driver at my depot who left Avanti and came to TPE and he had been at BR/Virgin et ell for 25 years and in his own words “it isn’t what it used to be” all the best T&C’s have been sold off and going to London and back soon gets old. A long time in the chair, failures at the wrong side of Rugby and you’re stuck for hours, miles away from home.

At TPE you drive better traction, more “interesting, varied routes” and I mean come on a class 68 blows a boring Pendo out of the water. Each to their own I guess.
More variety at TPE?
Liverpool Tpe guys just do 802s to York every day.
Personally I'd rather do pendolinos, 807s, voyagers to London and Holyhead , but as you say each to their own.
 

8J

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.....


More variety at TPE?
Liverpool Tpe guys just do 802s to York every day.
Personally I'd rather do pendolinos, 807s, voyagers to London and Holyhead , but as you say each to their own.

Going to York is a luxury for TPE Liverpool drivers now and so is driving a 185! It's mostly 802s, Leeds and the odd trip to Manchester Airport with the occasional Leeds - Huddersfield stopper thrown in for good measure. It's a shame as I believe the plan was for Liverpool drivers to sign to Nottingham but the work has stayed with EMR for now. It's a shame as Liverpool drivers used to sign to Scarborough.

As has been mentioned before, the rest day pattern and shift times seem more appealing at TPE. There's a lot of nights at Avanti at Liverpool.
 

Evolution

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More variety at TPE?
Liverpool Tpe guys just do 802s to York every day.
Personally I'd rather do pendolinos, 807s, voyagers to London and Holyhead , but as you say each to their own.
Liverpool is one of the smaller depots and as 8J said they don’t just go Liverpool to York everyday. There’s other routes. I’m based at Manchester Picc and our route card is miles more varied than Avanti, we go coast to coast and the rest! Give me the early morning Pennine views, the Yorkshire countryside and coast over the boring west coast mainline any day.

The RDW plan at TPE is very good, the odd day here or there and you’re not far off an Avanti driver with better T&C’s.

Oh and I’d rather drive a 185,802 and 68 over Pendos and Voyagers.
 

43066

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Liverpool is one of the smaller depots and as 8J said they don’t just go Liverpool to York everyday. There’s other routes. I’m based at Manchester Picc and our route card is miles more varied than Avanti, we go coast to coast and the rest! Give me the early morning Pennine views, the Yorkshire countryside and coast over the boring west coast mainline any day.

The RDW plan at TPE is very good, the odd day here or there and you’re not far off an Avanti driver with better T&C’s.

Oh and I’d rather drive a 185,802 and 68 over Pendos and Voyagers.

I’ve certainly heard good things about TPE. Proper intercity type work (on a par with Avanti) over some cracking routes. People who are currently driving for Merseyrail or Northern, doing all shacks class 2 work, will no doubt make up a lot of the applicants for Avanti.
 
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Rules test, group interview and then a face to face

Thanks, mate. Anyone got experience of group interviews? Not done one for years.

I’ve certainly heard good things about TPE. Proper intercity type work (on a par with Avanti) over some cracking routes. People who are currently driving for Merseyrail or Northern, doing all shacks class 2 work, will no doubt make up a lot of the applicants for Avanti.

Yeah, man. I've been to Kirkby more than enough times for one lifetime.
 

Evolution

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I’ve certainly heard good things about TPE. Proper intercity type work (on a par with Avanti) over some cracking routes. People who are currently driving for Merseyrail or Northern, doing all shacks class 2 work, will no doubt make up a lot of the applicants for Avanti.
Absolutely, it’s a fantastic opportunity for drivers at those TOC’s and a decent increase in basic pay and better work content no doubt.
 
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craigybagel

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More variety at TPE?
Liverpool Tpe guys just do 802s to York every day.
Personally I'd rather do pendolinos, 807s, voyagers to London and Holyhead , but as you say each to their own.
Unless things have changed, Avanti at Manchester has several seniority based links. The bottom links don't go to Holyhead or touch Voyagers - it's pretty much London and back every day on Pendolinos only.
Over at Liverpool though I believe they're a bit more egalitarian with everybody going everywhere from the start, so Holyhead and Wrexham on top of the core London work.
 

Economist

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With the 125mph TOCs, I can see it being a case of putting an application in for each one of interest and then simply taking which (if any) offer that materialises. Nonetheless, the whole Manchester/Liverpool area is definitely one that I'm interested in, lots of depots commutable from the leafy Surrey of the North (hopefully there's still some bits that haven't been invaded by sports stars and their WAGs), yet there's still plenty to do.

Unless things have changed, Avanti at Manchester has several seniority based links. The bottom links don't go to Holyhead or touch Voyagers - it's pretty much London and back every day on Pendolinos only.
Over at Liverpool though I believe they're a bit more egalitarian with everybody going everywhere from the start, so Holyhead and Wrexham on top of the core London work.

I've heard that drivers can't be double-tripped, do they do a half-trip and back in addition to the full Manchester-Euston and return? I'm betting link progression is very slow as well.
 

tiptoptaff

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Liverpool is one of the smaller depots and as 8J said they don’t just go Liverpool to York everyday. There’s other routes. I’m based at Manchester Picc and our route card is miles more varied than Avanti, we go coast to coast and the rest! Give me the early morning Pennine views, the Yorkshire countryside and coast over the boring west coast mainline any day.

The RDW plan at TPE is very good, the odd day here or there and you’re not far off an Avanti driver with better T&C’s.

Oh and I’d rather drive a 185,802 and 68 over Pendos and Voyagers.
Slight OT but what's the link spread like at MAN for TPE? Everyone does it all or is it seniority links? Thinking about how it compares to Avanti at Manchester and their seniority links
 

8J

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Slight OT but what's the link spread like at MAN for TPE? Everyone does it all or is it seniority links? Thinking about how it compares to Avanti at Manchester and their seniority links

There are 2 main links at Piccadilly with one small link for the Scotland work up the WCML

The Hull link sign:
Piccadilly - Hull
Micklefield - York
Piccadilly - Airport
Liverpool - Stalybridge via Victoria + Orsdall Chord
(include several diversions in all routes)
Traction is 185 only

Scarborough link
Liverpool - Scarborough (incl several diversions)
Piccadilly - Airport
Traction is 68/Mk5 and 185

People think of the WCML link as the senior link and the Hull Link as the starter link but this isnt strictly true.
 

marty1977

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There are 2 main links at Piccadilly with one small link for the Scotland work up the WCML

The Hull link sign:
Piccadilly - Hull
Micklefield - York
Piccadilly - Airport
Liverpool - Stalybridge via Victoria + Orsdall Chord
(include several diversions in all routes)
Traction is 185 only

Scarborough link
Liverpool - Scarborough (incl several diversions)
Piccadilly - Airport
Traction is 68/Mk5 and 185

People think of the WCML link as the senior link and the Hull Link as the starter link but this isnt strictly true.
Not strictly true, the Scottish link is now made up of lots of new starters as other drivers didn't want to go in it, not a lot of Scottish work more or less Preston or Carlisle.
The Hull link does just that with the occasional York, there is a Scarborough link that signs just 185's and rarely goes to Scarborough but does a fair few Piccadilly-Hudd/Hudd to Leeds stoppers, Then probably the best link is the 68 link that signs 68's and 185's they sign coast to coast and the jobs are fairly decent.
There is talk of combing the Hull and Scottish link as the Scottish Work is likely to go from Manchester, so the Scarborough and 68 link will merge if they ever get the Scarborough drivers right on 68's.
 

tiptoptaff

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There are 2 main links at Piccadilly with one small link for the Scotland work up the WCML

The Hull link sign:
Piccadilly - Hull
Micklefield - York
Piccadilly - Airport
Liverpool - Stalybridge via Victoria + Orsdall Chord
(include several diversions in all routes)
Traction is 185 only

Scarborough link
Liverpool - Scarborough (incl several diversions)
Piccadilly - Airport
Traction is 68/Mk5 and 185

People think of the WCML link as the senior link and the Hull Link as the starter link but this isnt strictly true.
Cheers for the info - worth knowing!
 

TTDARL

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1599428903523.png

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has Avanti been confirmed as running HS2?

In all the Avanti West Coast partnership franchise materials it states they will be bringing HS2 to life in conjunction with DfT & HS2 Ltd. Also stated on wiki and various recognised railway related publications.
 
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jettofab

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Does anyone know much about the shifts at Liverpool? Curious as to what the start and finish times are like.
 

Economist

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Does anyone have any idea of what view they'd take of people applying for the northern depots with the intention of relocating. I can't see any requirement for an applicant to live within a specified radius from the depot at the time of application, however would they favour candidates that are already local?
 

8J

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In terms of shifts at Liverpool, speaking to a driver I know there, they do have a few night turns I believe.

In terms of earliest day shift - I think it starts at about 04:00 and latest shift finishes at about 03:15 so the timings are pretty extreme.
 

craigybagel

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In terms of shifts at Liverpool, speaking to a driver I know there, they do have a few night turns I believe.

In terms of earliest day shift - I think it starts at about 04:00 and latest shift finishes at about 03:15 so the timings are pretty extreme.
Suspect the taxies to and from Holyhead might have something to do with that.
 

craigybagel

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I'd guess that when holyhead and crewe depots open they will take the north wales work away from liverpool and Manchester?

That would seem the most likely scenario. Whether Crewe gets any of the North Wales work remains to be seen - at present Holyhead based TMs work all services West of Chester so it may well be that the same happens with Holyhead drivers. Even without any work down the coast a depot at Crewe will still help save on taxis and traveling PASS time given all the Voyagers that go on and off Arriva Train Care every night.

But you know how it is trying to predict the future on the railway!

I thought I'd heard 2022 mentioned tho could be wrong....
I think it was announced as part of the new franchise, driver depots at Holyhead and Crewe no later then 2022, but I've tried before and failed to find the source confirming that.


Thanks. I wonder what the complement will be.
I wouldn't get your hopes up for any jobs going external at Crewe at least - lots of Avanti crews at other depots who I'm sure would love a shorter commute. The Holyhead one will be interesting though - short of poaching drivers from TfW there can't be many other qualifieds who'd want to transfer out there. Some I'm sure, but enough to open a depot?
 

irish_rail

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That would seem the most likely scenario. Whether Crewe gets any of the North Wales work remains to be seen - at present Holyhead based TMs work all services West of Chester so it may well be that the same happens with Holyhead drivers. Even without any work down the coast a depot at Crewe will still help save on taxis and traveling PASS time given all the Voyagers that go on and off Arriva Train Care every night.

But you know how it is trying to predict the future on the railway!


I think it was announced as part of the new franchise, driver depots at Holyhead and Crewe no later then 2022, but I've tried before and failed to find the source confirming that.



I wouldn't get your hopes up for any jobs going external at Crewe at least - lots of Avanti crews at other depots who I'm sure would love a shorter commute. The Holyhead one will be interesting though - short of poaching drivers from TfW there can't be many other qualifieds who'd want to transfer out there. Some I'm sure, but enough to open a depot?
Which would leave for example Liverpool drivers just doing Euston every day. Might get a tad repetitive I suppose, but still a good job to apply for on balance for those interested I'd say

Out of interest what is the rest day pattern on avanti, do they do 4 day week or 5 day week or other?
 

8J

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Which would leave for example Liverpool drivers just doing Euston every day. Might get a tad repetitive I suppose, but still a good job to apply for on balance for those interested I'd say

Out of interest what is the rest day pattern on avanti, do they do 4 day week or 5 day week or other?

Their rest day pattern is a bit all over the show. They do get a week of RD's every 5 weeks but other than that, your days off are sporadic. I'm not sure if it works out as an average 4 or 5 day week.
 

Efini92

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That would seem the most likely scenario. Whether Crewe gets any of the North Wales work remains to be seen - at present Holyhead based TMs work all services West of Chester so it may well be that the same happens with Holyhead drivers. Even without any work down the coast a depot at Crewe will still help save on taxis and traveling PASS time given all the Voyagers that go on and off Arriva Train Care every night.

But you know how it is trying to predict the future on the railway!


I think it was announced as part of the new franchise, driver depots at Holyhead and Crewe no later then 2022, but I've tried before and failed to find the source confirming that.



I wouldn't get your hopes up for any jobs going external at Crewe at least - lots of Avanti crews at other depots who I'm sure would love a shorter commute. The Holyhead one will be interesting though - short of poaching drivers from TfW there can't be many other qualifieds who'd want to transfer out there. Some I'm sure, but enough to open a depot?
The consultation for Holyhead is going on now. I think the work is as far south as Crewe.
I believe crewe will be 2023
 

Ceat0908

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If a base opens at Crewe, could that mean Edinburgh/Polmadie drivers would continue from Preston onto crewe? It’s my understanding that, due to only being a 30 odd minute gap between the nearest return Edinburgh service after the London service arrives, drivers can be there for 2.5 hours. I may be wrong!
 

irish_rail

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If a base opens at Crewe, could that mean Edinburgh/Polmadie drivers would continue from Preston onto crewe? It’s my understanding that, due to only being a 30 odd minute gap between the nearest return Edinburgh service after the London service arrives, drivers can be there for 2.5 hours. I may be wrong!
Knowing First groups love of packing drivers diagrams as much as they can, I'd say once crewe comes on stream, Liverpool drivers may end up doing 2 or 3 trips per day to crewe with a crewe or london man doing the crewe to london section of a liverpool to euston run.
Apparently this is more productive, however I'd argue it would be counter productive. I hope attitudes within First change in time that it isnt what happens on avanti as it is slowly happening on GWR
 
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