Signallers
Be part of the team that enables our railway to run safely.
Solve problems and keep our passengers moving throughout the UK
What is signalling?
Signalling is how we keep thousands of trains moving safely across our railway. By operating a sophisticated traffic light system and other specialist equipment, our Signallers control the movement of trains across the network.
Without signalling, our railway wouldn’t function.
What does it involve?
As a Signaller you’ll need to react to changing situations, make quick decisions and stay calm under pressure. Every day, you’ll face new challenges, some you expect and others you don’t. This could be responding to an incident such as trespassers on the line; you could be taking a line blockage to allow track access for maintenance colleagues, or communicating with a train driver about a problem they’ve encountered.
Whatever the situation you’re faced with, you’ll be able to apply your training and skills to manage it safely and get passengers moving and on their way to their destination.
Our Signallers work a variety of shift patterns, including nights, evenings, weekends and bank holidays. There’s also lone-working and team-working. The responsibility of a safety-critical role isn’t for everyone – but you’ll finish the day knowing the work you’re doing has helped passengers reach their destinations safely.
Your Training Matters
Becoming a Signaller is a big commitment and requires extensive training and a good amount of self-directed learning. We’ll support you with training to develop the technical and non-technical skills you’ll need to be successful.
This is 12-weeks of Initial Signaller Training (IST), (10-weeks of which is classroom learning) and location-specific training where you’ll learn on the job and practice your skills in a live environment before being signed-off as a fully competent Signaller.
It’s important you’re actively committed to your training and personal development. All Signallers have an ongoing cycle of competence assessments to help keep their skills up to date, but also to help support professional development and career progression.
Each day as a Signaller is rewarding. Your decision-making skills will make all the difference to the safety of our passengers and colleagues.
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Is it right for you?
You don’t need any specific experience to start a career in signalling. It’s more important that you’ve got the right transferable skills and behaviours. Here are the key non-technical skills that matter in signalling.
- Conscientious – You’re able to work diligently, deliver high quality work through following procedures, and be willing to take responsibility for your actions. You’ll work in accordance with the standards, by taking a systematic and thorough approach to what you do without the need for constant supervision.
- Attention Management – You’ll be able to remain alert and focussed, to manage distractions, and keep an awareness of the overall situation.
- Workload Management – You’ll be able to prioritise demands, analysing information coming from a number of sources, carry out multiple tasks quickly, sometimes at the same time and switch your attention between tasks and sources.
- Working with Others – You can build key relationships with people internal and external to Network Rail, enabling us to work together to get the job done safely and effectively.
- Controlled Under Pressure – You’ll be able to think in a controlled manner under pressure, effectively dealing with stressors, and adapting to changeable conditions.
- Decision Making – You can make risk-based decisions in a timely fashion, to maintain a safe and efficient running railway.
- Communications – You’ll need to be able to communicate clearly and concisely, both verbally and in written format, and to be confident in standing your ground. Clear communication between different people on the railway is essential for the safe running of our railway to ensure that all parties have a shared understanding of what is going on.
- Willingness and Ability to Learn – You’ll be motivated to develop yourself, retaining, applying and sharing knowledge and skills. It’s about the drive to maintain and develop your own skills, recognising that there are always opportunities for improvement, and that you’re willing to consider new ways of doing things.
Safety matters
| We’re committed to keeping our tracks, staff, and passengers safe, so it’s important that you’re always alert when you’re working as a Signaller. To help manage fatigue, you must live within a 50-minute commute of your chosen location, including having access to your own means of transport. When you apply, you’ll be asked to confirm that you are able to commute to your chosen location, whether by car, bike or foot, in under 50 minutes.
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If successful, you will be required to undergo and pass a drugs and alcohol test. All positive drugs and alcohol test results for prospective candidates will be securely held on Sentinel database and a 5 year suspension from applying for a safety critical role, a role which requires PTS certification or a Key Safety role on Network Rail Managed Infrastructure will be enforced.
Feel like a match?
Our grades
Our Grades
Each of our Signaller roles are assigned a grade. Generally, the higher the grade the more responsibility you’ll have, over a larger area and will need to manage more, and more complex, tasks at once.
As part of the application process, you’ll take a test which will evaluate what grade we think would suit you. If you don’t achieve the grade you apply for, we’ll keep your application on our system and let you know which other roles or locations might be suitable for you.
What our grades mean
In lower grade Signaller roles, you’ll likely be working on your own. So you’ll need to be able to manage your attention levels and stay focused to ensure the safe movement of passenger and freight trains, as well as the safety of any maintenance colleagues on track.
For higher grade Signaller roles, you might be working in a signalling centre or ROC, managing a larger or more complex area of the network. It’s very important that you’re able to multi-task well, as you’ll be responsible for multiple trains’ movements at the same time over a larger area.
We have a combination of manual levers, and computer-controlled systems on our lines. Typically, lower grade Signallers may be operating manual levers to control the tracks, whereas higher grade Signallers are likely to be working with computer-based systems.
Salary
It’s important to understand that the salaries shown for each grade are the full salary you will receive once you have completed the initial and location-specific training for your chosen grade. The higher the grade, the more training you’ll need to become competent, and the longer your training journey could be.
No matter which grade you join us at, you will undertake Initial Signaller Training (IST) for the first 12-weeks of employment, with 10-weeks being classroom based. Whilst you’re in IST, you’ll be earning a Grade 2 salary.
- Grade 3 and 4 Signallers will earn their full salary once they’ve successfully completed the initial training.
- Grade 5 or higher Signallers will earn a Grade 4 salary on successful completion of IST, before receiving the full salary once signed off as competent at the location.
Our Application Process
Our application process is very similar no matter which role you apply for. As part of your application, you’ll go through a number of stages, including online testing, a safety and risk questionnaire, and an interview. We’ll keep you updated about your progress throughout the recruitment process. And we’ll keep things moving as quickly as we can.
If you have any questions about our application process, or are looking for some tips, you can visit our Top Tips page.