[Closed] Any Network Rail employees here?

to get you in the door?

Can you open it yourself?

😉

I don't work for NR but I have two friends that do, they're always telling me how they do virtually nothing all day or night except watch films and go for breakfast lunch and dinner!

I no that's no help but it wouldn't suit me!

Network rail HQ is here in MK and I had a mate who worked in IT for a couple of years then quit on the same basis as described above. Basically he had no immediate manager and operated on this agile working system. He had no set desk or work area and just sort of floated around wherever. He left in the end as he had no real direction of what he was meant to do??
That said, if your in engineering or something I think it's quite different so I guess it depends what the roll is?

From a mate who has 26 years experience

Good points

Well paid
Good(ish) pension
Loads of training

Bad Points

COSS or SWL qualification leaves you open to HSE/ORRR prosecution if there is a problem
Don't expect job satisfaction, he used to despair of the "lifers" attitude but now realises it's because any gram of intuition/professionalism has been ground out of them by decades of monolithic top down bureaucracy.
Whole weeks of not doing anything can be justified due to bad paperwork, lack of spares etc.

Have worked for BR / Railtrack / Network Rail for 27 years. Not in engineering though, in operating side, yes you get training and continual assessment. Are they a good employer? Can't say as have never worked anywhere else but can't be that bad as I wouldn't have stayed. Career progression, I have found that it seems best to get up the ranks as a "worker" to improve your pay scale but they seem to treat their managers pretty poorly so would avoid that! You seldome if ever get a well done for a good job, but make a mistake and you will know all about it pretty quickly. I see my first line supervisor a couple of times a week and maybe see my manager a couple of times a year, tend to get left to get on with it. Pay is fairly good for what I do, tend to get payed for what I know rather than do thankfully! If you have the chance of a job give it a try, most folk I know have either retired from the job or died before they got to retire, "not work related" very few leave so it can't be that bad!

Any half decent civil engineering manager gets a way better package in China or Dubai, hence NR seems to lack a middle class.

Network rail HQ is here in MK

See you tomorrow, ill wave from reception.

My BiL works in signals engineering, it seems ok, but his colleagues seem to go off the deep end and/or top themselves on an alarmingly regular basis.

I'm not sure if that's a reflection on his department or him to be honest!;-)

Well I work for a Train Operating Company and NEVER see anyone leave Network Rail to join a TOC so it must be alright.

Engineering is too broad a term. What part of engineering are you talking about? Design, install, test, management, track, signalling, telecomms, bridges, civils etc. etc.

Being a Project Engineer is very different to shovelling ballast, but both would be considered engineering to some degree.