How do you become a train driver in Ireland

bobblepuzzle

Just out of interest... how do they apply and how long do they do training for? Somebody told me a while ago it takes 4 years with Irish Rail

paky

i think you have to join irish rail as an engineer or something? youd probably need relations in there first. i new a guy who use to drive a train for irish rail. he was a full blown alcoholic. the train journeys were so monotonous he use to drink while he was working :eek:.

AfterDusk

10 tokens from boxes of Corn Flakes

Losty Dublin

bobblepuzzle wrote: »

Just out of interest... how do they apply and how long do they do training for? Somebody told me a while ago it takes 4 years with Irish Rail

Any staff member who works for Irish Rail can apply to become a train driver; they are recruited internally in the company; old tales of needing a family member in there are long gone though it was the way in years gone by. Most railway companies take on their drivers in the same way so it's not a local thing by any stretch of it, I am sure that there are exceptions to this.

Before anybody says anything about it being a doddle etc there is a hell of a lot involved in the training programme to become a full driver; it takes almost a year to train and qualify as one while in the past it took up to 70 weeks of training! And that was before you obtained a train guards cert, a pre requisite to applying as a driver at one stage. My Dad was a inspector in charge of training some years ago so I know a wee bit about what it entailed back then; less so about it today

Humans eh!

Just get on the right track...
And don't go off the rails.....

Vanbis

bobblepuzzle wrote: »

Just out of interest... how do they apply and how long do they do training for? Somebody told me a while ago it takes 4 years with Irish Rail

My mate is a train driver for Irish rail. You can't apply to become a train driver. You need to apply to Irish rail for a job and and start from there, they usually apply from within around the all the stations when the positions become available and then you have to train for six months with exams before you pass. You have build up a number of hours driving before they let you out on your own.

Judgement Day

Six pages of a thread about becoming a train driver here: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055449795

Back to the rugby.

Transportuser09

I think there is still a recruitment ban in CIÉ (and other public service bodies) at the moment so it probably would be a while before they start recruiting for any positions. It will be interesting to see how the Metro handles the recruiting process, I would imagine it will be similar to the Luas.

Run_to_da_hills

Take a trip up north to Downpatrick and go for a footplate course on a g series, it will cost a little over £200 you will know soon enough whether this job is for you or not

Judgement Day

Or take a trip down to Dromod and take a course on an ice cream van.

kingshankly

bobblepuzzle wrote: »

Just out of interest... how do they apply and how long do they do training for? Somebody told me a while ago it takes 4 years with Irish Rail

need to be working for Irish rail first of all
course is roughly a year 6 months in class and 6 months getting up hours.

Losty Dublin

kingshankly wrote: »

need to be working for Irish rail first of all
course is roughly a year 6 months in class and 6 months getting up hours.

And learning everything about what to do when things go wrong which is where it gets really complicated. How long are you a driver now, Kinger?

Victor

Transportuser09 wrote: »

I think there is still a recruitment ban in CIÉ

Not quite. They have been letting people go, so there is little need to hire people, especially if they can be moved around internally.

Transportuser09 wrote: »

It will be interesting to see how the Metro handles the recruiting process, I would imagine it will be similar to the Luas.

Luas seems to have brought in quite a few staff (not just drivers) from UK tram operations. I imagine Metro would be similar, but its going to be a bit more complicated due to extensive tunnel operation, conventional operations and line of sight operations on some sections, alkthough removing Lissenhall might change things there.

kingshankly

Losty Dublin wrote: »

And learning everything about what to do when things go wrong which is where it gets really complicated. How long are you a driver now, Kinger?

6 years

purplepanda

Friend of mine was a tube driver on the Jubilee line for 15 years & had to join IE as a guard for a while before doing any driver training

Losty Dublin

purplepanda wrote: »

Friend of mine was a tube driver on the Jubilee line for 15 years & had to join IE as a guard for a while before doing any driver training

A tube train and a diesel loco are very very different beasts so that's understandable.

Terrontress

A revenue protection guy on Southern Railway in London once told me that he had been a driver for London Underground but wanted to be an overland driver so had to put his time in doing that before he could be considered.


It's not just Irish Rail who don't let you saunter in to a driver's job.

corktina

Many tube drivers would not be fully qualified to drive any thing else as there are automatic and semi automatic systems used on some lines where the driver is basically mostly there to give the passengers confidence...

kingshankly

regardless if you drove every train ever made if you arrive in Ireland and join Irish rail you have to do the same course as every one else

Terrontress

kingshankly wrote: »

regardless if you drove every train ever made if you arrive in Ireland and join Irish rail you have to do the same course as every one else

That's not the point, the point is that if you drive every train ever made and then join Irish Rail, before you can take the course you have to put in your time in a non-driving capacity before being taken on to be trained as a driver. And it is the same with UK rail companies also.

patwicklow

And if you dont like the courses you could always Jump on A Gravey Train
and join...................................................................... Dáil Éireann

Even if you drove trains in the UK before, I'd say you couldn't go straight into a drivers job in IÉ; different signalling systems, cab layouts and route knowledge to deal with at the very least.

kingshankly

Terrontress wrote: »

That's not the point, the point is that if you drive every train ever made and then join Irish Rail, before you can take the course you have to put in your time in a non-driving capacity before being taken on to be trained as a driver. And it is the same with UK rail companies also.

I have already stated that on the previous page

Terrontress

kingshankly wrote: »

I have already stated that on the previous page

Well, pat yourself on the back for being so quick off the mark.

plstudent

Terrontress wrote: »

That's not the point, the point is that if you drive every train ever made and then join Irish Rail, before you can take the course you have to put in your time in a non-driving capacity before being taken on to be trained as a driver. And it is the same with UK rail companies also.

Same for Northern Ireland I assume? The railroads are state owned there also.

Infini

Dunno if this thread should be locked or not since its effectively a necro bump from 5 years ago o.o.

Hilly Bill

Some bump of a thread alright.

BuffyBot

Old thread is..old.