Leaving the west!

Ydna · Beginner Joined: Sep 01, 2008 Last Visited: Sep 7, 2008

G'day to all in the rail family,
Im a driver with Transperth and looking to move back to the Eastern states. Can any other drivers give me some info (good and not so good) on V/Line and other rail companies.I am undecided if I would like to do country passenger services or freight.
Ydna.. Question

thelastname · Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 12:44 pm

V/Line only run passenger trains and are currently looking for drivers, might be worth putting your application in.

http://www.vline.com.au/careers/vacancies/traindrivers.html

As for freight.

Interail are looking for freight drivers at Dimboola.

http://jobs.careerone.com.au/texis/jobsearch/details.html?id=48af914348dae0&company=Adelaide+Advertiser

Ydna · Beginner Joined: Sep 01, 2008 Last Visited: Sep 7, 2008

Thanks for your reply thelastname. What are V/line like to work for, what is their trains like? Question

SteamtoStay · Posted: Wed Sep 03, 2008 12:43 pm

No idea what they are like to work for, but this site can help re: their fleet:
Locos
Carriages+railcars

Happy Chanukah!

David S.
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(My opinions are my own unless specifically stated.)
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My photos

thelastname · Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 9:26 am

I have no idea what it's like to work for V/Line I'm not a driver. I don't think it should be to bad to work for them, most trains operate between 5am to 11pm, so I don't think you would be going off to work at 1am. They are moving to driver only, so if you like working by yourself it may be right for you.

As for there fleet it's reasonably modern, N's and A's are approaching 24 years of service which operate at a speed of 115km/h.

Velocity's have been on the scene for the last 5 or so years could be a bit more, driver only operation at up to 160km/h.

Sprinters have been around since the early 90's, operating at a speed of up to 130km/h.

craigd · Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:43 pm

Could always have a go at CityRail (part of RailCorp) as they tend to have a public recruitment campaign at least two times each year as there are not enough existing staff interested in the roles any more to fill the positions from within RailCorp. Not surprising with the way train crewing staff get treated (I had first-hand experience!) but if you put the b/s aside it's a good job and will be around for a long time to come.

Other places to check out are Pacific National (which is the biggest freight operator in NSW as it's still got much of the legacy work from the old FreightRail/FreightCorp + NRC combination), and there are a number of other small freight operators such as Momentum, SSR, Independent Rail, etc. ARG is also an option but is probably not a good one to look at as they've lost their one contract in NSW which goes to PN in early November I believe. Interail often advertises but almost never responds to job applications.

If you don't want to come this far east, you could look at companies like Genesee and Wyoming who have their Australian HQ in Adelaide (Dry Creek I believe). They do relay-working between Adelaide and Melbourne, Adelaide and Darwin, Adelaide and Perth, and (I think - they do have a handful of crews there) Adelaide and Parkes.

Craig.

Craig Dewick in Adelaide Australia (Sydney until Oct 2008!)
Qualified/experienced Train/Locomotive Operator + HO Scale Rail Modeller
SRA/FreightCorp 1987 to 1994, RailCorp/CityRail 1994 to 2007, IRA 2007-08, GWA 2008 to present
Image Galleries at: http://www.railzone.org/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=125 and
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witsend · Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2008 9:06 am

GWA (Genesee and Wyoming Australia) also operate Grain Trains in South Australia along their branch line network, as well the last freight train to run on Adelaide Metro Broad Gauge Lines, the Stonie, between Angaston and Birkenhead. Their predominate work as I can see is AM6/MA6 Adelaide to Dimboola/Melbourne under contract to QRNational, GP1/PG1 Parkes to Perth under contract to SCT, PM9/MP9 Perth to Melbourne under contract to SCT, and proudly all AD1/DA2 Adelaide to Darwin services along the Darwin Line. The most recent addition to their job book is the Mindarie Mineral Sands train from the Murray Mallee. They advertised for qualified drivers about 2 weeks ago. If you get in touch with Amy Radford in their Adelaide office, she may be able to squeeze you in Smile

Regards,

Samuel Wittwer
Member - LC of Yorke Peninusula Rail

craigd · Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2008 9:35 am

Ydna · Beginner Joined: Sep 01, 2008 Last Visited: Sep 7, 2008

Thanks Craig and Witsend,
Im leaning toward country passenger services where I can be home after most shifts but will definetly look at the freight side and what is availible.
Ydna. Smile

witsend · Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2008 6:37 pm

In South Australia, you should apply to Premier Stateliner as a Coach Driver then for regional transport. Unfortunately for you, SA does not have any regional passenger train services, only the prestigious Indian Pacific, The Ghan and the Overland, all which are hauled by Pacific National.

In Adelaide Metro, TransAdelaide is the sole rail operator in South Australia, being government operated like TransPerth. Like Perth, we only have a few lines (Gawler/Outer Harbour/Noarlunga/Belair) and a couple of Branches. TransAdelaide don't often call for operators, but a quick phone call/email to Nikki Hume in HR would give you the heads up.

I'd suggest that you'd have a better chance with Connex/VLine (Victoria Metro/Regional) or CityRail/CountryLink (NSW Metro/Regional). Only thing there is to ring the operators and ask. Once again, VLine is advertising but must be Victorian Qualified. You could always ring the number, and find out if there is another way in.

Regards,

Samuel Wittwer
Member - LC of Yorke Peninusula Rail