Home » UK Employment news » Northern Trains to recruit 280 drivers and conductors in 2023

Northern Trains to recruit 280 drivers and conductors in 2023

By Nagasunder in UK Employment news, posted January 19, 2023

Northern Trains has revealed plans to hire up to 280 drivers and conductors across the North of England in 2023.

New staff are needed to join the group to be in charge of running Northern's more than 2,500 daily services to more than 500 stations and will be hired as part of a natural workforce replenishment.

The drive is to help replace people who have retired, moved on in the company or who have left.

Both positions require no previous rail experience and will receive full training at Northern's academies in Leeds and Manchester.

The driver positions are located in Carlisle, Darlington, Hull, Leeds, Newcastle, Sheffield, Skipton, and York and have a starting salary of £23,000 per year, which would increase to £54,500 once fully qualified.

Conductor positions are available in Carlisle, Doncaster, Harrogate, Huddersfield, Hull, Leeds, Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Sheffield, Skipton, and York, with starting salaries of £22,000 rising to £29,000 once fully qualified.

Tricia Williams, chief operating officer at Northern, said: “These are fantastic roles for anyone passionate about helping connect people and places across the region.

“We’ll be recruiting throughout the year – so people should register for job alerts on our website.”

With such a large employee increase on the horizon, Northern is urging women to apply as part of an effort to improve its workforce's male-female balance.

The company is also attempting to attract more candidates from under-represented ethnicities in order to ensure that Northern reflects the communities it serves.

Ms Williams added: “The rail industry has made great strides in many areas of diversity in recent years – but there is still much to be done.

“Drivers and conductors represent a huge proportion of our workforce – if we can attract more people from a wider range of ethnicities and women into these roles, that’ll make a real difference.”

Central to Northern’s recruitment campaign is a plan to attract the best and brightest candidates from other sectors who hadn’t previously considered the rail industry.

Citing some of the motivating career histories of its 2021/22 intake, Ms Williams said: “Some of the people at the control of our trains today started their career in the prison service, as cabin crew, as social care workers, in a veterinary practice and at least one as a wedding planner!

Need Career Advice? Get employment skills advice at all levels of your career

"No one should reason either of these roles ‘isn’t for them’ – the railway has much to offer.”

Source: Rail Professional

Follow us on YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook