UK Train drivers overwhelmingly middle-aged white men

The average train driver is 46 years old, male and white, according to new data compiled by an industry body.

The National Skills Academy for Rail (NSAR) figures show that only one in ten drivers are non-white, with even fewer being women.

The rail industry has long recognised itself as being one of the least diverse employment sectors.

Southern Railway said it is trying to enable a wider range of people to apply for jobs.

Donna Pryce is an apprentice driver at the company, on a training course at Selhurst Depot near Croydon.

"It was my experience, growing up, that all the drivers were fifty-plus, white men," she said.

"But lately I am seeing a lot more diversity. More younger people, black people, women. I'm here for it, I love it!"

22-year-old George Browning, from Portsmouth, is Southern's youngest trainee driver.

He said: "It has been a dream goal for me since I was a little boy. The median age of train drivers is quite high, so I definitely feel like one of the young ones. Age doesn't matter, but I'm proud to achieve that at a young age."

Zoey Hudson, head of talent, diversity and inclusion at Southern railway, said recruitment methods had changed to enable a wider range of people to apply for jobs.

"It's really important that we have diversity of thinking within the railway, which is as important as diversity of ethnicity," she said.

"It freshens us as an organisation, it brings creativity, so that we get different people enriching the working environment for the railway of the future. Ultimately, the railway will look and feel different, and that will make a more successful business."

But train drivers remain overwhelmingly male, and overwhelmingly white.

Fewer than one in ten drivers are women: 91.5% are men, 8.5% are women, up from 6% two years ago.

More than nine in ten drivers are white: 90.8%, with 9.2% coming from other ethnicities.

NSAR also compiled statistics for drivers under the age of 40. It found the proportion of female drivers is significantly higher for this younger group, at 14%. The proportion of non-white drivers is higher too, also at 14%.

NSAR told the BBC: "Indicators are heading in the right direction, often as a result of government action to improve the deployment of apprenticeships for new train drivers.

"Average age is decreasing, gender balance increasing."

NSAR's data does not include services run by Transport for London.

It said that Elizabeth Line and Overground services, run by MTR and Arriva respectively, show greater diversity - with two in three Elizabeth Line drivers under 45 years old, and one in three non-white.

On Overground services, more than half of all drivers are from non-white backgrounds. But on both operators, nine in ten drivers are male.

BBC News
Archive [April 30 2024]

 

[Google.com]

I'm not reading the article because my head cannon that the white guy in the background is a security guard who just stands there all day to make sure she doesn't steal the train is too funny.

 

[Norbert the Tiger]

Regardless of sex or colour or creed.

No. Persons in any role in Japan should be Japanese, so in Britain should people be British. Humans are sexually dimorphic and the division of labor according to each gender's attributes makes sense.

 

[St.Davis]

Been a while since you've had to use the train regularly I'm guessing?

Imagine how shit our trains are now, but even worse.

It's not perfect far from it, but we're really really autistic about Railway safety.

Could we start being autistic about railways running on time? I've had to start getting the train an hour earlier than I want to, because otherwise if the first train I take is delayed by 20 minutes (Very common) I miss my transfer and have to wait another half an hour for the next one. I don't like being late.

 

[Badungus Kabungus]

How come trench diggers, coal miners, and roadkill scrapers are overwhelmingly male too? SEXIST.

 

[Agamemnon Busmalis]

Memes aside, what does this even mean? How does one’s personal perspective affect one’s ability to drive the train? How is creativity necessary? There aren’t multiple ways to approach this job. You just drive the fucking train.

lmao, I was thinking the same thing. It's not like you can decide to leave the rails and go overland or have an alternative perspective on how to stop at the station.

 

[LaxerBRO]

Lmao trains have been too safe, on-time, and boring for too long, it's time to shake things up! We must replicate the DEI success that the airlines have been experiencing, and really make travel more exciting and culturally enriched!

I don't think I would characterize British rail as being on time.

On the flip side, they could bring in some Japanese conductors.

 

[Phalanges Mycologist]

There should be a standard for the job, and the best people who meet or exceed that standard get the job. Regardless of sex or colour or creed.
Anything else is asking for very bad things to happen

You'd be amazed at what can an will disqualify someone for driver training (or removed from driving duty) on Passenger lines an Most goods lines in the UK our requirements are strict an enforced by law not just "Best Practice" but legitimate acts of parliament, and its weirdly stricter than applying for a commercial pilots licence.

It's heaver on Passenger lines than goods lines but if your on a Hybrid part of the network you have to pass the stricter physical an training requirements, if your a driver because we're not fully able to isolate the two fully, so that's something like 99% of the network drivers have the higher standard applied.

Even temporary medication use like painkillers after an operation will get you suspended from driving for a few months apparently, and they work quite short hours in comparison to office workers and overtime is capped (unless its on the London Underground but even they have limits).

One of the reasons they don't run many of our Heritage trains from national an private collections on mainlines much or often is because the train has to reach certain safety standards and keeping them and the crew certified is expensive, someone told me the Sir Nigel Gresley A4 can run main line dutys to speeds required without issue but apart from VERY specific runs or ones given exception that has to be signed off by the transport secretary it would be something like £3m a year to keep it on the main line rails, an when they do run them they run them under-speed an under-load with supervision.

The reason a lot of the older Diesels can run it is they haven't fallen out of General Certification because quite a few of them are still used for mainline goods services under private ownership and even then some can run as a backup option for mainline services and some of them are pushing 60/70 years old at this point, or have direct descendant models on the line with applicable standards. Electrics are weird as they have to pass various electrical tests in addition to Rail Worthy tests (think a MOT but for a train).

But back to driver training for a sec, looking at the Vision health requirement is amazing certain medical conditions like Astigmatism that you can drive a car and even fly a plane with will get you shit canned as a driver unless it can be corrected - apparently to the point potential drivers are extremely common recipients of laser eye surgery, apparently they have to use 1 doctor you chose, one they chose and one the union choses for verification. Hell Asthma can get you shit canned from looking at it, so can Hayfever.

 

[ToroidalBoat]

Persons in any role in Japan should be Japanese

Japan may go with mass immigration, and there's already the start of the infestation of "identity politics" over there. If the pandemic of "identity politics" continues to spread there, and they really get unchecked mass migration, Japan then could be yet another crime-ridden cultureless "melting pot" with endless incompetence and "woke" BS.

 

[Otterly]

Hell Asthma can get you shit canned from looking at it, so can Hayfever.

This is all very heartening to hear. Someone still has standards.
Pl: I am actually at a party at the moment,which is rare for me, and have just been berated loudly and in front of a lot of people I know for insisting that meritocracy and strict standards are the only way to keep the lights on in response to a similar diversity-is-our-strength conversation. The shouter had no actual arguments for exactly why diversity and quotas were good, but they said patriarchy and oppressive structures a lot. Apparently quotas are the thing. I must simply accept this.
I feel quite depressed about it (previous half an hour was being scolded for not being on board with 15 minute cities and WEF policy) and I want to go home, even if I miss the fire fun. Apparently diversity is a merit all in itself. (Diversity of thought or just appearance and identification I asked?) not the latter. More shouting.
I have been thoroughly scolded (I will admit I wound them up about nuclear power to see the seething, but it was worth it.)
So, I’m hanging out with the smokers outside and talking about safety in fire juggling. I dont understand a word of it but it’s interesting and at least they aren’t yelling at me and calling me a facist,
I think I’m going to go back in and be cheerful about the cass review and see if anyone starts swinging punches. Wish me luck

 

[Norbert the Tiger]

Japan may go with mass immigration

At some point the Japanese people need to revolt against liberal democracy, same with Britain and all European peoples.

 

[Alexander Thaut]

christ, imagine trying to find oppression and this is what you come up with.

at least with jesse owens, you could kinda say that "hey black people are good at this, why were we being dicks about it?".

 

[Spud]

gender's

I've seen many of your post where you jew sperg but you are using their language here. It's sex not gender, gender is a made up construct by the pedo John Money.

 

[Norbert the Tiger]

I've seen many of your post where you jew sperg but you are using their language here. It's sex not gender, gender is a made up construct by the pedo John Money.

Sex and gender are the same and interchangeable. Six one and half a dozen the other.

 

[Otterly]

Sex and gender are the same and interchangeable. Six one and half a dozen the other.

You should use every opportunity to politely smile and say ‘you mean sex?’ Though, because it really pisses people you want to piss off, off. There’s a woman at this party who I swear is going to throw her cheap cava at me if I keep doing it.

 

[Dick Mason]

Now who would throw a women from a train?

Ninjas, mostly. Cartoon rabbits, sometimes. Jon Candle.

 

[AssignedEva]

More than nine in ten drivers are white: 90.8%, with 9.2% coming from other ethnicities.

NSAR also compiled statistics for drivers under the age of 40. It found the proportion of female drivers is significantly higher for this younger group, at 14%. The proportion of non-white drivers is higher too, also at 14%.

In 1991 the UK was 94.5% white. So if the average age was 48 then that's pretty much representative of the country when the average train driver started working.

If under 40s are at 14% then that's also pretty much representative because in 2011 the UK was 87% white (so 13% ethnic minority) and I think that's also basically the percentage of the workforce that are ethnic minorities. No use using the 2021 stats because they're only for England and Wales and also a lot of the "bump" in ethnic minority people are children. So this indicates that if anything, ethnic minorities are overrepresented as train drivers! Well done train companies, you've achieved the diversity target! That means you can stop worrying about race, right? Right? Right?

As for the gender disparity, I guess it was social brainwashing -


It couldn't possibly be that little boys of that era just thought trains were cool, and little girls of that era tended not to, right? Right?
(I know it's grocer cat, but it's still the same cat)

 

[eDove]

But are they neurotypical?

 

[Norbert the Tiger]

You should use every opportunity to politely smile and say ‘you mean sex?

No, I don't concede the point that sex and gender are two different things. I take the term "gender" back. It is nice being able to say a dozen and twelve.

 

[Kel1 shi1]

Even temporary medication use like painkillers after an operation will get you suspended from driving for a few months apparently

There have been crashes attributed to the driver being on medication, so it's not so strange as it appears at a surface level. "Do not operate heavy machinery after taking this medicine" is a common warning on the actual packet.

 

[Would]

Okay, now do oilfield roughnecks and lumberjacks

Kweens don't do that kind of work, whitey; they want the cushy jobs and all the spotlight that comes with it. Crackers can stay in the mines and sanitation where they belong.