What are TOCs actually looking for right now? 👀 I get asked all the time, "What should I put on my CV?" or "What answers are interviewers actually looking for?" From what I'm seeing across the industry, three themes keep coming up time and time again. 🤝 Collaboration – With Great British Railways driving closer working between TOCs, Network Rail and other industry partners, employers are looking for people who can build relationships, work across teams and communicate effectively. 💡 Innovation – It's no longer just about following the process. They want people who ask "Is there a better way?" and who bring practical solutions, not just identify problems. 🦺 Safety – This will always be non-negotiable. Every answer you give should demonstrate that you understand the importance of keeping people safe while delivering a reliable railway. If you're updating your CV or preparing for an interview, think about the examples you're using. Don't just say you're a team player. Show how you've collaborated. Don't just say you're innovative. Talk about a time you improved something. Don't just say safety is important. Explain the actions you've taken to protect people or improve performance. These are the kinds of examples that help you stand out. Which of these do you think is hardest to demonstrate on a CV: collaboration, innovation or safety? 👇

There's a Personal Assistant role live with DfT Operator in London right now — contract, and it's exactly the kind of role people overlook when they're trying to break into rail. Here's the thing: you don't need railway experience to start in rail. You need transferable skills — organisation, stakeholder management, diary and inbox management, discretion, keeping senior people on track. If you've done that in any industry, you've already got what this role needs. What makes this smart as an entry point: You're inside a rail organisation from day one — meetings, projects, terminology, the way decisions actually get made You build a network of people who can vouch for you when you apply for operational or coordinator roles later 12 months in, you're no longer "someone with no rail experience" — you're someone who already understands how the industry works, applying from the inside This is a proper strategy, not a compromise. Plenty of people who end up in operations, project support, or fleet coordination roles started exactly like this — get in, learn the environment, then move. If you're weighing this up, drop a comment: what's your current role, and what rail role are you actually aiming for down the line? I'll tell you honestly whether this is a good stepping stone for it.

HM Inspector of Railways (Operations) role live with the ORR right now — £66.5K–£74.1K, based across London, Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester, York or Glasgow with hybrid working. This one's a genuine step up. It's not a depot or TOC operational role — it's regulatory. You'd be assessing how the industry manages safety and operational risk, not managing it day-to-day yourself. That shift in mindset is exactly where people trip up in the interview: they talk about doing the job, when the panel wants to hear about judging whether others are doing it safely and compliantly. If you're thinking about applying (or you already have), drop a comment and tell me: Your current role/background Whether you've interviewed for a regulatory-type role before I'll put together a proper breakdown of what they're likely to probe — how ORR inspectors actually think, and how to frame your operational experience so it lands as regulatory judgement, not just "I've done this." Let's get you ready for this one. 🚆

A few real-world style situations from depot/fleet ops, see how you'd handle them. Drop your answers below and I'll comment back on a few with my take. 1. The Cold Morning Freezing temperatures overnight have caused a handful of units to develop faults. You've got a full diagram to get out and limited engineering resource. What's your first move? 2. The Conflicting Priority You're mid-task when Control asks for something urgent that clashes with a safe system of work already in place. How do you handle it? 3. The Small Thing Nobody's Flagged You spot something during a routine check that isn't a problem yet, but could be in a few weeks if left. Do you raise it, and to who? 4. The Unexpected Situation Something happens on site that's outside the normal routine, not an emergency, but not standard either. What's your first priority? Comment your answers below, even a rough one-liner. I'll jump in and reply to a few with how I'd approach it.