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On average, in any year, a South West Trains driver will stop at approximately 16,000 stations and comply with around 55,000 signals. And there is absolutely no room for error. Only when you have driven a route a given number of times, in the company of another more experienced driver, will you finally be allowed out on your own to drive a train; on average, this will take about a year and cost about £100,000 in training.
The traditional image of a train driver tends to be a romantic hangover from the days of steam. It is of someone who has been employed by the railway as a “youngster” and has worked his way up through the ranks. But it couldn’t be more different for today’s drivers, according to Sharon Maguire, South West Trains’ Head of Drivers. “Our drivers work in comfortable, air-conditioned cabs and are more likely to have come from another industry.” And they are increasingly likely to be women—there are now 50 female drivers across the South West Trains network. There is also no shortage of candidates. Every time the company advertises for new drivers it is hugely over-subscribed.
South West Trains accepts applicants for drivers between the ages of 21 and 58, and many have a “service industry” background. Alan is a good example. He joined the company having taken early retirement after a successful career in banking. Among the other trainees who started with him were an ex-prison officer, an ex-policeman, an ex-probation officer and an ex-Royal Mail depot manager, along with about the same number of people who already worked on the railway as ticket inspectors or guards and wanted to progress.
“We all had exactly the same training,” says Alan. “This begins with an induction training in basic first aid and fire-fighting, but by the second week you are into specific stuff at the training school at Basingstoke.”
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Training includes riding different cabs to get a feel for the various rolling stock |
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First you learn personal track safety, “because walking around a railway strewn with conductor rails carrying 750 volts and trains passing at up to 100mph requires discipline and concentration, particularly at night!” Alan says. You also have to learn how to discharge those conductor rails in an emergency, which means learning how to use a “short circuiting bar”, and being prepared for the very loud bang and flash that ensues. Then there is a spell of riding in different cabs to get a “feel” for the different rolling stock that South West Trains operates.
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