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Rail Crew Tests

CrossCountry train manager assessment

Long-distance routes from Aberdeen and Edinburgh to Penzance and Bournemouth via Birmingham

CrossCountry publishes its process in outline: you apply, and if you are shortlisted you are invited to an interview or an assessment centre, told what you will be doing on the day and what preparation is required, and then interviewed by a panel on competencies. An offer follows subject to a pre-employment medical, references and a DBS check. CrossCountry also says plainly that some of its roles require psychometric testing.

Applicant accounts describe a rules test and a combined ticket selling and checking test on the day, with fare calculation and then checking as two halves. We could not confirm either against anything CrossCountry publishes, so treat them as what to be ready for rather than what you will sit.

How much we know

This page rests on a single detailed account of the process. Treat it as a guide to what to expect, not a statement of what you will sit.

In order

The CrossCountry selection stages

This is not an official CrossCountry process description. Your invitation letter is the authority for your own.

  1. 01Online application
  2. 02Shortlisting, usually within about two weeks of the closing date
  3. 03Invitation to an interview or an assessment centre, setting out what the day involves and what preparation to do
  4. 04Competency-based panel interview
  5. 05Offer subject to a pre-employment medical, references and a DBS check

Detail

Worth knowing about CrossCountry

Practice

What to practise for CrossCountry

Matched to the stages above. Every demo is free and needs no account.

Every process on this list ends in a competency interview. Our guide to the interview and the role play covers the competencies operators assess and how to structure an answer, and the process guide sets out every stage across the sector.

Before you apply elsewhere

Not every operator has an on-board grade

If you are comparing operators, these run driver-only services and have no conductor or guard job to apply for:

c2c
Driver-only operation on the London, Tilbury and Southend route. No conductor or guard grade.
Elizabeth line
Driver-only operation. The concession changed hands in May 2025 and is now run by GTS Rail Operations; its frontline grades are customer and revenue roles, not a conductor grade.
London Overground
Driver-only. The concession passed to First Rail London in May 2026, but the brand and the six named lines are unchanged, and the frontline grades are station and revenue roles.
Heathrow Express
Driver-only, and run by GWR under a management contract, so its train crew hiring goes through GWR rather than Heathrow Express itself.
Thameslink and Great Northern
No conductor or guard grade — these run driver-only. Both do advertise a Passenger Host grade, which is revenue, customer and security work without door or dispatch duties. Southern, in the same group, is different — see its page.
Freight operators
Freight trains have not carried guards since single-manning in the 1980s. Note the naming trap: GB Railfreight advertises “Train Manager” and “Trainee Train Manager” vacancies that are train driver roles, and asks for a driver psychometric pass within the last five years.

Compare

Other operators that employ on-board crew

Compiled from publicly posted applicant accounts and operator job adverts, September 2026. Processes change without notice — your invitation letter is the only authority on what you will sit. The rules test and the two-part fares and ticket checking test come from applicant accounts; CrossCountry names no test publicly.