Does anyone know off-hand how to become a train driver in Ireland?

Alan_H_1991

I am enquiring on behalf of my friend, who is in 2nd year of college doing engineering, and wishes to drop out, he would like to be train driver, but is not sure how or what's involved. Irish Rail are a "mine of information" on this.

Is training time and money consuming. Are there many chances? Can anyone apply? is the pay good? How much of a say will you get in your chosen route and roster? He lives in Kildare, so will he be able to operate out of Heuston station if he desires? (He would be willing to operate out of Connolly either).

Any other necessary information would be great.

Thanks a mil everyone!

Cookie_Monster

It's a closed shop and unless you either work for IE already or have a relative who drives you can forget it. Your CV will "be put on file for future reference" and that's the last you'll hear.

dmcronin

He'd be better off finishing engineering, graduate and go down under.
Last one to leave the country could you please turn off the lights?

You'd have to get a minor (platform staff) grade before even thinking about driving and chances of getting an entry level position are pretty much nil now.

FYI: A driver mate of mine in the uk was sounding out transferring to IE as a driver, he'd still have to do platform work for a spell so it wouldn't be a direct transfer...primitive 19th century setup IMO. His benefits etc in the uk were much better than if he were with IE so he gave up on the idea.

corktina

yep, its not a realistic ambition in Ireland. Much easier in the UK as I understand.

Judgement Day

This previous thread should be of interest http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=58403977

and there's always Blennerville and the C&L who will take anybody.

westtip

Alan_H_1991 wrote: »

I am enquiring on behalf of my friend, who is in 2nd year of college doing engineering, and wishes to drop out, he would like to be train driver, but is not sure how or what's involved. Irish Rail are a "mine of information" on this.

Is training time and money consuming. Are there many chances? Can anyone apply? is the pay good? How much of a say will you get in your chosen route and roster? He lives in Kildare, so will he be able to operate out of Heuston station if he desires? (He would be willing to operate out of Connolly either).

Any other necessary information would be great.

Thanks a mil everyone!

As others have said - no chance unless he is in the gene pool.

dmcronin

And a small gene pool at that. You can hear the banjos playing in some places around IE.

Jehuty42

While I don't question the obvious closed-shop nature of the profession, especially in the current public service employment moratorium, is there any hard evidence of a genetic link among IE drivers? I see nothing to indicate it in my daily commute.

LXFlyer

Less so of late but historically yes.

corktina

have ye not noticed thay all have one blue and one brown eye?

Losty Dublin

Jehuty42 wrote: »

While I don't question the obvious closed-shop nature of the profession, especially in the current public service employment moratorium, is there any hard evidence of a genetic link among IE drivers? I see nothing to indicate it in my daily commute.

There was, yes, but that was back in the day when the society way was that an apprenticeship place for a youth in any trade was almost an heirloom and in the poverty ridden past it was guarded fiercely in families. Even then, a place was dependent on a bond being paid before you could get a placement; this was usually coughed up by a family member or a bond paid for an older family member passed down instead of being cashed in, very occassionally a rich benefactor/s may have paid same or a lad may have been taken on as a favour owed or in lieu of a debt. One slip up or bad egg en route and it was all gone.

Then again, most trades were exactly the same and stayed that way for years. Many older shops or businesses have "&Son" or "Family" attached to their name while lots of college graduates have a family history running through them, railways are no different worldwide.

purplepanda

dmcronin wrote: »

You'd have to get a minor (platform staff) grade before even thinking about driving and chances of getting an entry level position are pretty much nil now.

FYI: A driver mate of mine in the uk was sounding out transferring to IE as a driver, he'd still have to do platform work for a spell so it wouldn't be a direct transfer...primitive 19th century setup IMO. His benefits etc in the uk were much better than if he were with IE so he gave up on the idea.

Friend of mine worked 15 years as a driver on the Jubliee London Underground line, he had to do a platform job for a couple of years before becoming a driver on the DART. That was around 10 years or so ago.

ALS

I joined the company in 2008 to train as a loco driver ,never knew a sinner in Irish Rail or even remotely related to anyone in the company ,worked on the platform for a couple of weeks while I got a trackside safety cert ,and straight up to the training school , up and down to Cork now, so alot of the above posts are complete rubbish .
I find the job very rewarding and drivers are quite well paid.The job does have its pro's and con's but so does every job.
Having never worked in the industry the rules and procedures and "railway speak " can be tough to learn but the school is excellent
Out of my class of 8 lads only 2 had a railway background.

ALS

Does anyone know off-hand how to become a train driver in Ireland?
I am enquiring on behalf of my friend, who is in 2nd year of college doing engineering, and wishes to drop out, he would like to be train driver, but is not sure how or what's involved. Irish Rail are a "mine of information" on this.

Recruitment embargo operating in Irish Rail so its near impossible to get in.

Is training time and money consuming. Are there many chances? Can anyone apply? is the pay good? How much of a say will you get in your chosen route and roster? He lives in Kildare, so will he be able to operate out of Heuston station if he desires? (He would be willing to operate out of Connolly either).

Takes about 18 months in total, pay is good route and roster you have no control over
Any other necessary information would be great.

Thanks a mil everyone!

Jehuty42

ALS wrote: »

route and roster you have no control over

Out of interest, where are the driver bases?

ALS

Dublin drivers work from Hueston / Connolly and Fairview (Dart )

LXFlyer

You also have drivers based in Ballina, Westport, Galway, Athlone, Limerick, Tralee, Mallow, Cork, Portlaoise, Waterford, Sligo, Longford, Drogheda, Dundalk, Bray and Rosslare.

Jehuty42

lxflyer wrote: »

You also have drivers based in Ballina, Westport, Galway, Athlone, Limerick, Tralee, Mallow, Cork, Portlaoise, Waterford, Sligo, Longford, Drogheda, Dundalk, Bray and Rosslare.

Thanks, that sounds right to me in terms of having drivers in the right place for services in the morning. Bit confused about Bray though- what services are they operating that aren't covered between Connolly/Drogheda based commuter DMU drivers, Rosslare drivers and Fairview DART drivers?

Niles

Jehuty42 wrote: »

Thanks, that sounds right to me in terms of having drivers in the right place for services in the morning. Bit confused about Bray though- what services are they operating that aren't covered between Connolly/Drogheda based commuter DMU drivers, Rosslare drivers and Fairview DART drivers?

Bray drivers operate the DART links commencing there, DMU drivers don't work DARTs.

Cookie_Monster

Jehuty42 wrote: »

Thanks, that sounds right to me in terms of having drivers in the right place for services in the morning. Bit confused about Bray though-

as stated they run DARTs, lot of them are stored in Bray, it wouldn't really make sense to require all drivers to start from Fairview and be shuttled down to get that end of the line working every morning.

Jehuty42

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

as stated they run DARTs, lot of them are stored in Bray, it wouldn't really make sense to require all drivers to start from Fairview and be shuttled down to get that end of the line working every morning.

True, guess I wasn't thinking that through completely.