So how much does a Train driver earn then?

Sure, please note I said "some" would think that high BUT the main complaint would be waste/poor value for money.

 

Unless a government puts the taxation fairly and squarely back into the economy then it must be a downward spiral? Money has to move for a busy economy so it could be argued that lower taxation results in more spending which results in the same tax intake BUT people have more disposable income for better lives. Therefore higher taxation stalls the economy and, particularly for those at the bottom of the ladder, makes a lot of "have not" subsistence lives and the need to boost low pay from the public purse. It's control really because the "haves" can afford their tax and have money left to live well. It's always the poor that suffer from high taxation even if the rich are paying more per person.

 

If the union members decide to strike thats fine , its their right to withhold labour, I think that if you are on strike you are on strike, all this one day on one day off but you can't do anything on the day you are back because you have to get things going and preparing for the next day of strike action is rubbish, we all know why they are doing it and the employers should not pay them until they are fully back. Could be worse Mick Lynch could be me neighbour, how anybody could do a deal with that piece of work is beyond me.

 

Back to the original question, a train driver earns almost exactly the same as a fighter pilot in the RAF

 

And also more than a software engineer with 30 years experience in a global aerospace company that shall not be named.

 

Yes that bloke definitely fit’s the format, comrades,
I bet he has complained in every job he’s ever had
Even the newsagents when he was a paper boy
Not going there the dog barks

 

My take on things, and why there’s strong union support for the strikes, slightly biased as I was striking yesterday, for info I work on the overheads with Network Rail.

The reporting that the RMT have jumped straight to strike action is false as they’ve been trying to negotiate something for over 2 years, most of it stems from the efficiency reforms Network Rail have been pushing for, for many years, which the RMT have knocked back on safety grounds (reducing maintence schedules)/compulsory redundancies/ changes to T&C’s, and fair bit of reclassifying job roles with accompanying lower salaries.

The covid thing exacerbated the situation with NR using depressed revenues as the excuse for pushing through the proposed changes, which will be part of the Great British Railways rebrand, (same same, but everyone gets new T-shirts etc )

Add to the above that an agreed pay rise almost 3 years ago never materialised, as was postponed or scrapped due to Covid, along with our productivity bonus (which had been earned on the previous year- so is paid a year in arrears)

Train fares have still been increasing over the period and Train Operating Companies are still making multi million pound profits, yet there’s seemingly no money for staff pay rises whilst inflation runs away.

Back to the question..What does a train driver earn? - my best guestimate is most are in the 50-60k range, some will earn more with overtime. starting salaries with train companies are about £26k rising to 35k ish after training and a couple of years experience, most new rail job contracts are not as lucrative as they used to be.

The Premier League ‘drivers’ though are on The Underground, the best T&C’s, overtime/shift premiums, best holidays etc but these are covered by their own union. I say ‘drivers’ I think there’s a fair few routes now where the trains effectively drive themselves, the driver only drives in/out of depots and open/closes the doors!

 

I bet the unknown engineer works more than 4 8Hr days a week as well

 

Yep. Out of hours meetings, unpaid overtime, and no working from home unless there's a pandemic on this week.
BTW - my wording was bad, I meant the company should not be named, rather than the engineer

 

None of us really know what goes on behind the scenes, whichever side.

 

I’m not sure I believe conspiracy theories like that

 

I'm not a tube driver but know many as I'm on the underground,

Scenario you are travelling on a tube on a line clear area(underground, not surface) I.e Victoria line, you train breaks down midway between stations , what do you think happens, no AA/RAC, no you will have to detrain upto 300 people walk them safely down a single track to the closest station, in very limited lighting with the usual trips,slips,and hazards, that will include people with mobility issues, elderly, and the likes , if your lucky you may have a station staff from another station walk up and help, (not normally as you have to close that station whilst detraining to cope with the extra people)

Whilst driverless trains (ATO)sound a good idea its not, you say they press the buttons for the doors and there are much more to it than that,

If you never see your driver you have had a pretty normal journey on the underground , when he leaves his cab and walks through the train somethings up , passenger emergency alarm, train fault etc, I for one think they offer a level of safety to our customers,

How hard is it to drive a train , it ain't easy, checking points are set, trains tops are working, signals set and corresponding, marker boards and the list goes on,

All at 40mph ish in limited light, and no not like driving a car at night, all this could need checking in a space of 100 mtrs

I wonder how many people would complain if it never affected there journey to/from work ect, how much support would we get,

The underground was on strike for 1 day over our pensions, not pay rises

Imagine you save 100 per month in a bank for your retirement and then someone comes along and says you don't need it all so we are taking some from you, fair? ,, you earned the money its yours , would you just say OK, or would fight for it,

I'm sorry if anyone had a distrupted journey, we don't get paid to strike, but we will fight and continue to do so for what's ours,

Have a look at government run companies and there t&c there shocking,

For those who don't have the same support we have and complain you can always change careers to something that pays better and protects you more

I'm sorry if this upsets anyone

Peace be with you

 

I was playing TrainSimWorld 2 recently. That underground driving malarky was tough.