Railway jobs abroad.

[L.M_DannyC]

Hello all!
Hope everyone is well.

I'm after advice, I've been working on the railway for nearly 4 years now and slowly but surely I've been working my way up the ranks. But in all honesty, at this present moment in time I find myself quite bored with where I am and I'm looking for a drastic change in life.

I've been looking into railway work abroad, mainly focusing on Australia/America and I see plenty of adverts in Railstaff magazine, but they all seem to be "high end" jobs, such as signaling engineers and designers, project managers etc etc...

My question is, do they ever advertise for more humble positions such as station staff or train conductors? If they do, where would I find information/adverts. (if any)

Obviously this is a big decision to make so any help/advice/general thoughts on the matter would be much appreciated

Many thanks in advance!

 

[tempests1]

Hello all!
Hope everyone is well.

I'm after advice, I've been working on the railway for nearly 4 years now and slowly but surely I've been working my way up the ranks. But in all honesty, at this present moment in time I find myself quite bored with where I am and I'm looking for a drastic change in life.

I've been looking into railway work abroad, mainly focusing on Australia/America and I see plenty of adverts in Railstaff magazine, but they all seem to be "high end" jobs, such as signaling engineers and designers, project managers etc etc...

My question is, do they ever advertise for more humble positions such as station staff or train conductors? If they do, where would I find information/adverts. (if any)

Obviously this is a big decision to make so any help/advice/general thoughts on the matter would be much appreciated

Many thanks in advance!

Engineering jobs is where it is at. Australia/Middle East. I guess you could try looking at the companies Websites

 

[Clip]

To be honest Danny - for those roles the Aussies will and do hire within their own countrymen as this then cuts down their own unemployment. The reason you see 'high end' jobs is because of the massive skills shortage they have in these areas for either maintenence or expansion of their railways.

I tried myself to emigrate a while back to NZ but had no luck - even though they couldnt fill the role for over a year - the best advice I can give you is
a) If you're young enough get a work visa and enquire if you can do the work there

b) save up a shed load of money and just move out there for good


c) Work for a company here which is big enough that they operate around the world in various countries - i.e Serco , as then you may be in with a better chance of getting sponsored to go live/work there.

d) get some qualifications and training so that you can show you have the skill sets that people may be looking for. Or see if you can move over too PWay/S&T so that you can gain what you need for a move.

And good luck.

 

[L.M_DannyC]

To be honest Danny - for those roles the Aussies will and do hire within their own countrymen as this then cuts down their own unemployment. The reason you see 'high end' jobs is because of the massive skills shortage they have in these areas for either maintenence or expansion of their railways.

I tried myself to emigrate a while back to NZ but had no luck - even though they couldnt fill the role for over a year - the best advice I can give you is
a) If you're young enough get a work visa and enquire if you can do the work there

b) save up a shed load of money and just move out there for good


c) Work for a company here which is big enough that they operate around the world in various countries - i.e Serco , as then you may be in with a better chance of getting sponsored to go live/work there.

d) get some qualifications and training so that you can show you have the skill sets that people may be looking for. Or see if you can move over too PWay/S&T so that you can gain what you need for a move.

And good luck.

Thank you for your quick replies!

I'm 23 at the moment so I'm only a young whippersnapper, haha. I'm just trying to explore my options.

I can understand why they would recruit their own countrymen for these sort of roles, it makes sense I guess.
However, I've took on board your suggestions and will look down all the different avenues that are available.

Thanks for your helpful advice, it's much appreciated.

 

[driver9000]

If you fancy America it is possible to pay your way through a training course that would see you passed as a member of train crew (US railroads call their secondman a Conductor). Not too long ago MTA were recruiting for the Long Island Railroad with vacancies for Drivers (engineer) and it seemed they were willing to sponsor applicants through the training course. My advice would be to check out their websites along with what is required to emigrate and work in the US.

A quick search of Google returned this site: http://www.rrb.gov/pands/jobs/rrjobs.asp

Traincrew training centres found on traindriver.org:

http://www.modocrailroadacademy.com/
http://www.railroadtraining.com/

 

[route101]

Thank you for your quick replies!

I'm 23 at the moment so I'm only a young whippersnapper, haha. I'm just trying to explore my options.

I can understand why they would recruit their own countrymen for these sort of roles, it makes sense I guess.
However, I've took on board your suggestions and will look down all the different avenues that are available.

Thanks for your helpful advice, it's much appreciated.

You could get a Australian Working Holiday Visa. You could email Cityrail , metlink and countrylink in Oz to see if they take WHV employees.

 

[L.M_DannyC]

Good thinking!
The lure of Australia does tempt me, I'd like to see and experience how differently things are run operationally over there compared to here in the U.K.
That's something I'll look into, thanks!

 

[Old Timer]

Hello all!
Hope everyone is well.

I'm after advice, I've been working on the railway for nearly 4 years now and slowly but surely I've been working my way up the ranks. But in all honesty, at this present moment in time I find myself quite bored with where I am and I'm looking for a drastic change in life.

I've been looking into railway work abroad, mainly focusing on Australia/America and I see plenty of adverts in Railstaff magazine, but they all seem to be "high end" jobs, such as signaling engineers and designers, project managers etc etc...

My question is, do they ever advertise for more humble positions such as station staff or train conductors? If they do, where would I find information/adverts. (if any)

Obviously this is a big decision to make so any help/advice/general thoughts on the matter would be much appreciated

Many thanks in advance!

Danny,

I work abroad extensively.

There are some very serious issues to be considered if you propose to go to work abroad.

Firstly, all pension provision made here will be lost. Secondly many Countries will give you a right to residence, but only as long as you are employed. There will normally not be any entitilement to any form of Pension or medical support if you do not have a right of citizenship - something that you will need to make arrangements for if your employer will not.

Moving jobs in Australia may well be difficult as your work permit will be employer dependent and if you leave your permit employer you will not have any right to remain.

In the US annual leave entitlements are normally a maximum of two weeks, and you will be responsible for all your pension/unemployment/medical provision.

Within infrastructure the need is for senior level people as there are plenty of workers available to take up the lower rated jobs. The US and Australia to a lesser extent are both suffering from the world recession, albeit that currently Australia is a hotspot for Railway projects just now.

An alternative would be to develop a design skill working at say Balfour Beatty Rail and then transfer to Balfour Beatty Rail International, which would allow you to make provision to return to the UK in the future.

I believe that most work permits have a defined maximum periodicity (4 or 5 years) after which you have to apply for residency or leave.


Even I have problems with work permits, although I am in and out rather than staying long term, because of the tough rules, and many railway infrastructure staff end up working under special arrangements involving the personal authority of the equivalent of the UK Foreign Secretary.

Be warned that in unstable (and even some stable) African States this can be a major problem. A colleague of mine made the last plane out of one Country, and would probbaly have been arrested as a "friend" of the previous regime.

In the Middle East there are various security problems and restrictions on alcohol and "fraternisation" with the locals, and the Religious Police are always on the lookout for signs of Christianity in certain "civilised" Countries.

That said, the remuneration can be extremely "comfortable" but in some cases also has to be used for personal security.

If you are interested in train crew jobs in the USA I can give you a contact name who will take you through the process.

All the above said, once you work Internationally you would never wish to come back to the UK to work for Network Rail again.

 

[L.M_DannyC]

Thank you very much for your very helpful and informative advice Old Timer. It's great to talk to someone who knows exactly what they are talking about and have experienced it all.
I didn't realize that pensions/medical expenses weren't provided by operators abroad, obviously I'm used to all of these being provided to me by the current TOC I work for, maybe I should have done some more research.
Maybe it would be better for me to develop my skills over here and then hopefully making a move abroad in the future, as I've said previously, I'm only 23 at the moment so I guess I've got time on my side.
However, having a contact who I would be able to to talk to more thoroughly about options in the U.S would be great, so feel free to D.M me with details if you wouldn't mind

Getting some great responses and advice here, thank you everyone'

 

[DownSouth]

Good thinking!
The lure of Australia does tempt me, I'd like to see and experience how differently things are run operationally over there compared to here in the U.K.
That's something I'll look into, thanks!

It's quite similar on the passenger side of things and in regards to safeworking in the more busy areas.

Generally more US-style when it comes to freight (thank goodness) and operations on the long-distance lines.

I think you'll struggle to find a driving position here though, you would need to bring something very special to the table to jump ahead of people who already know the way things work and won't have immigration paperwork to cause headaches.

 

[daniel3982]

Friend of mine went out to Canada on a working holiday visa and is now driving freight trains in British columbia!