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Rail Crew Tests

West Midlands Trains senior conductor assessment

Birmingham and the West Midlands, plus London Euston to Crewe via the LNWR routes

West Midlands Trains — covering both West Midlands Railway and London Northwestern Railway — is the most specific operator in this list, because it names its tests on its own careers page rather than leaving you to find out. Shortlisted candidates sit three: a concentration test, a rules test and a ticket checking test, which it says take about an hour in total.

A competency interview follows, face to face or over Teams, and successful candidates go into a talent pool for up to twelve months. That is the whole published process, and it is a good one to prepare for: all three exercises are practised on this site.

In order

The West Midlands Trains selection stages

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

  1. 01Online application with a CV
  2. 02Shortlisting
  3. 03Three tests — concentration, rules and ticket checking, about an hour in total
  4. 04Competency interview, face to face or over Teams
  5. 05Offer, or a talent pool for up to twelve months
  6. 06For safety-critical roles, eyesight, hearing and drug and alcohol tests

Detail

Worth knowing about West Midlands Trains

Practice

What to practise for West Midlands Trains

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

What we do not cover

  • A concentration test — timed sheets of symbols to scan and mark — is part of this process and is not practised on this site.

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.