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Rail Crew Tests

Southern conductor assessment

London to Sussex and the Surrey and Kent coast

Southern is the reason a blanket statement about its owning group is misleading. Thameslink and Great Northern services run driver-only. Southern keeps two on-board grades: Conductor and On Board Supervisor. Recent adverts for the two have appeared at Selhurst, Brighton and Victoria, so whatever the underlying geography, it is not a clean coastal-versus-metro split.

We would rather leave the assessment stage blank than invent a list for it — and here it genuinely is blank. The group’s recruitment page says only that it tailors each process to the role and uses a number of selection methods. Prepare on the pattern that holds across most operators, and follow whatever your invitation letter actually says.

How much we know

There is little public detail on this assessment. The stages below are the general pattern for the grade, not a confirmed list.

In order

The Southern selection stages

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

  1. 01Online application
  2. 02Assessment stage — described only as “a number of selection methods”, tailored to the role
  3. 03Interview
  4. 04Talent pool
  5. 05Medical including drug and alcohol testing, for the safety-critical grades

Detail

Worth knowing about Southern

Practice

What to practise for Southern

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.