Insider. The Train Conductor is about the romance of the road, total corruption and loneliness of Russian Railways employees. Train conductors told how they work on the railway, and revealed some secrets of their profession. What is the name of the profession of a conductor in the field?

Working as a train conductor is a difficult but interesting profession. Many people have had this dream since childhood - to work as a conductor. The profession is steeped in romance and fantasy. Surely everyone has their own original story about the train conductor.

Any adult citizen, even those without higher education, can apply for this position. What kind of profession this is, why it is attractive and difficult, will be discussed further.

Qualities you need to have

To go to work as a guide, it is important to have certain personal qualities:

Advantages and disadvantages of the profession

A guide, like all professions, has its advantages and disadvantages. The advantages include:

the need for the profession in society;
high on branded trains;
no age restrictions;
a large number of different benefits.

The disadvantages of the profession are:

Where and how to study

To find out about the vacancy of a train conductor, you need to contact the nearest branch of the railway station.

The passenger depot trains personnel to service the wagons. For the device, you must contact the HR department with documents. Typically the list of required documents includes:

passport;
certificate or diploma;
employment history;
a statement that can be written on the spot.

After the documents are accepted, an interview is scheduled with an HR employee or manager. During the interview, it is important to show yourself as an open, sociable person without bad habits. If it was possible to make such an impression and the candidacy was approved, the applicant is sent for training.

Train conductor training lasts three months, training is carried out daily, a full 8-hour day, except weekends. Once the training is completed, examinations are conducted. First, they are accepted. Then the future train conductor is sent to practice - on the first flight, paired with a qualified employee. During the voyage, the student keeps a diary where he records all the events of the journey. It will need to be submitted to the training center. After the trip, a final exam with tickets is taken. When passing the exam with a score of more than three points, the student is considered enrolled in the state.

At the end of the training, the conductor is given a certificate of completion of the course. In addition, to get a job you will need to undergo a medical examination and obtain a health certificate, as well as certification for occupational safety. All documents are provided to the HR department.

Career stages

Immediately after completing training, a train conductor has the third qualification category. And there are four of them in total. The first two are for the cleaners of the passenger train. The third and fourth are for guides. The fourth can be obtained after advanced training. Such conductors usually operate in

A train conductor can rise through the ranks. To do this, you need a higher education or completing a course for foremen. Just below the foreman is the train mechanic, but this position is only for men.

There are also such career levels as shift manager and station manager.

Beginning of work

After training, the guide is ready to start working. He is given a special uniform, which must be kept clean and tidy. A photo of the train conductor demonstrates it.

At the beginning of the first work shift, the contractor forms a team. The guide may be asked which direction he prefers. Perhaps your wishes will be taken into account, but this is not at all necessary.

Flights are:

long-distance (more than 24 hours);
local (up to 12 hours).

The local train service schedule is 10 working days, then 10 days off. In long-distance carriages, the schedule is determined by the number of days on the trip.

Before the departure of the flight, a planning meeting is held, where the necessary documents are read out to the conductors and their readiness for the flight is checked. At the planning meeting, the teams are informed about the composition of the teams, given instructions, and asked to sign the necessary logs.

On flights crossing the border, the conductor needs a passport.

At the planning meeting, the conductor is assigned a carriage in which she will need to work. Once in his carriage, the conductor meets an employee there who has worked his shift and is about to go home. The carriage is being accepted. Every little detail is taken into account, because the conductor is personally responsible for the entire carriage.

At a certain hour, the conductor begins boarding. Here it is important for him to act strictly according to the instructions. If passengers express dissatisfaction, the conductor cannot meet them halfway, since he is limited by instructions.

You also need to be very careful when handling tickets. There are fines for any mistakes in the work, so it is in the interests of the conductor to comply with everything and be responsible.

Explorer functions

The work of a conductor includes two directions. The first is service work with passengers. This includes:

The second area of responsibilities is related to car maintenance. The conductor ensures the external and internal cleanliness of the carriage entrusted to him. The carriage is wet cleaned twice a day and the toilets four times. Garbage is removed. When the carriage arrives at the station, the conductor wipes the handrails and loads coal onto the train.
In winter, the conductors clear the carriage of ice and also defrost the toilet and washbasin using boiling water. Their responsibilities include maintaining the required temperature in the car.

The conductor has financial responsibility for all the property entrusted to him (dishes, bedding, all equipment for work), as well as for all breakdowns and damage in the carriage.

Wage

The level of a conductor depends on the number of hours worked. The standard for a month is 176 hours. In addition, odds, bonuses and other additions may be added. On average, a conductor earns from 10,000 to 25,000 rubles per month. In winter, the average salary is 15,000 rubles, in summer - 25,000 rubles.

There are also employees who manage to earn up to 55,000 rubles per month, but this is the exception rather than the rule.

Privileges

Despite the low level of wages and high workload at work, many strive to go to work on the railway. This is primarily due to the benefits that each conductor of long-distance trains has, and the conductors, of course.

These include:

free delivery from the depot to the station closest to your place of residence;
annual discounted round-trip rail travel for yourself and two minor children;
one round trip on your own road.

The trade union can award referrals for treatment, as well as a camp voucher for children. Conductors receive free medical care in special railway hospitals. In difficult situations, the company can pay for the employee’s treatment.

Every five years, good bonuses are provided for loyalty to the chosen cause. They can be 3-4 monthly salaries.

After 20 years of service or more, a conductor retiring also has the right to preferential railway travel.

If you are still interested in working as a train conductor, positions are always open, you just have to want it.

Oh, road romance! The wheels tap peacefully, attractive landscapes flash outside the window, cities, and maybe even countries, change... You ride around the world or country, and they even pay money for it. Which travel lover has not found the job of a train conductor attractive? How is it really? What is the conductor's salary? How to become one? What are the responsibilities? If all this interests you, welcome to the article.

Average salary of a conductor

Let's immediately take the bull by the horns and deal with the most pressing issue. It is possible that after this section, most readers will not even want to delve further into the topic. So why languish?

The conductor's salary is hourly. According to Russian Railways rules, there is a limit on the number of shifts per month - 15, while the standard hours are 176.

The amount of payment depends on the category of the train (they pay more for work on international flights), season, distance, complexity of the flight, number of night trips, region and much more. There may be additional payments for length of service, direction, for fulfilling a sales plan, bonuses, and in some regions a regional coefficient is charged.

For 2017, the minimum payment is about 11,500 rubles, and the maximum that you can realistically count on is 33,000 rubles. If we talk about the average salary of a long-distance train conductor, it is just over 22 thousand rubles per month. Such data are provided for Russia.

If these numbers don't scare you, let's study the topic in more detail.

Benefits for Russian Railways employees

But the Russian Railways conductor does not live on his salary alone. Working in this structure is largely motivated by benefits. They are provided not only to conductors, but to all workers. There are several groups of benefits:

social;
labor;
on wages;
on labor protection;
social guarantees.

As you can see, there are a lot of them. We will not list everything; the full list can be found in specialized materials or directly when applying for a job; we will name only the most “delicious”.

Education (higher or retraining) is paid by correspondence. Twice a year, free travel to and from your place of study is guaranteed.

Those in need of housing are allocated housing from the Russian Railways fund. There are assistance programs for young employees.

It is indexed annually (even twice in 2017), holidays are paid at an increased rate, and annual paid leave is provided (28 days).

Workers are paid for special clothing, medical examinations and medical examinations, travel and accommodation.

Young mothers are paid an additional benefit in addition to that provided by the Social Insurance Fund. They pay it up to 3 years.

The company partially compensates for the costs of:

treatment in sanatoriums;
teaching children;
sports activities for employees and their children.

Loans and subsidies with preferential terms are provided to those purchasing housing.

After retirement, employees remain entitled to a number of bonuses (subject to the required length of service). These include discounted travel, treatment, trips to a sanatorium and much more.

Agree that all this gives an increase to the conductor’s salary.

How to get a job as a guide

This is not difficult to do. The applicant must have at least a secondary education. Special training is also required, which can be obtained at a school, college or technical school in the direction of “Passenger Car Conductor”. There is an opportunity to take preparatory courses. A medical examination, passing exams on safety precautions and labor protection are also required; you also need to successfully pass testing and pass a competition.

For those who want to try themselves in this profession and find out how much conductors actually earn, there is the opportunity to become a temporary employee. Such recruitments are carried out every year during the peak period in the summer months, when additional trains are formed.

As you can see, there are enough requirements, despite the fact that the conductor’s salary, even with a heavy workload, is low. But nevertheless, only candidates who meet all the requirements and really want to work on the railway are accepted for this position.

Experienced people say that the profession of a Russian Railways conductor combines several things: you need to be a waiter, a loader, a cleaner, and a psychologist at the same time.

Requirements for a candidate

Work experience is desirable, but without experience it is quite possible to get a job as a second guide. A health certificate is also required.

To work on international flights, knowledge of a foreign language is required.

What are the responsibilities

Responsible for servicing passengers along the route: boarding and disembarking, checking tickets, issuing bed linen, selling tea, coffee, confectionery and souvenirs, etc.

It is also necessary to maintain train documentation, maintain the condition of the carriage in accordance with sanitary and hygienic requirements (cleanliness, heat and light, water, operation of all necessary equipment), ensure the safety of passengers along the way, including providing first aid, keep records of inventory valuables and inventory, as well as compiling reports for the train manager and much more. In addition, you still need to prepare the carriage for the road, and after the end of the trip, put it in order and hand it over.

For an uninitiated person, this profession looks simple and even primitive, but in fact it requires a huge amount of a wide variety of skills, because all sorts of situations happen on the road.

Disadvantages of the profession

The work of a guide is considered quite difficult both physically and emotionally. There are different people, conflict situations often arise, and the daily routine is irregular. In addition, there is a prolonged absence from home.

Advantages of the profession

The positive aspects include the fact that this is a job in a state-owned company, which in itself for many people is synonymous with stability and confidence in the future.

Career growth is possible, for example, up to, but in this case a higher education is required, as well as experience working in different sections of the railway.

The workers themselves cite the opportunity to see cities and meet a large number of people as a plus. The guides' shifts usually last 15 days, then the same amount of time is given to rest.

In a word, if you are attracted by the romance of the road, you are ready to withstand a wide variety of people in huge numbers, you want to work in a large stable company and you are not afraid of how much conductors receive for their hard work, maybe this profession is for you?

Conductor work Many people find it romantic - long-distance trains, different cities and random interlocutors. It’s not difficult to get a job here: Russian Railways accepts everyone with a secondary education, you just need to take preparatory courses. But the work is quite hard, and the salary is low. We asked a young man who dreamed of becoming a conductor and now works on a train, how he feels about his work, how much he earns and what he spends his money on.

How to become a guide
I was born in Biysk, Altai Territory, later my family moved to Moscow, where they lived for only a year and a half, but I really fell in love with this city. Then I had to travel a lot by public transport, and I really wanted to become a driver. Then we returned to the Altai Territory again. After the ninth grade, with a burning desire to become a driver, I entered the specialty “rolling stock mechanic, passenger carriage conductor, carriage inspector-repairman, operator” at the Novosibirsk technical school (since the family budget would not have been able to afford training in Moscow). I studied for four years, and in the summer of my second year I had the opportunity to try myself as a guide and earn extra money. After that, I lost all desire: there was a terrible team, it was unclear how the money was paid - in two months it came out to 47 thousand rubles. After studying, I was assigned to Russian Railways. Thanks to my good grades, I had a choice, and I chose the job of a passenger carriage conductor. In the future I want to move to Moscow.

In general, this is a job for people 35–45 years old who have extensive experience in another field. There are even special three-month courses for such people. To start working, a conductor needs to pass a medical examination, register with the human resources department, and pass occupational health and safety exams. You also need to pass a test with more than 250 questions. There you need to quickly and correctly calculate, remember numbers, solve a puzzle, and so on. It happens that some people do not pass it.

Features of work
The conductor must be able and know everything: seat the passenger, give him a set of linen, write him down on a strict reporting form, warn him 40 minutes before his departure, drop him off. Monitor the cleanliness of the cabin: clean the carriage at least twice per trip, and the toilet at least four times. It's like the Sims game where the characters have an indicator: if it's green, then everyone is happy. So are the passengers: I almost didn’t follow, and immediately became dissatisfied.

The conductor has many professions - for example, a loader, a waiter, a psychologist. Large thick bags of dirty laundry need to be carried into your compartment. You need to walk around with a tray and tell passengers that tea products and souvenirs are on sale. You also need to be a bit of an encyclopedia - at each station passengers ask: “What area are we in?” or “What river flows here?”, “What is the population of this city?” and so on. Sometimes you resolve a quarrel between passengers or they themselves come to talk, because several days on the train are hard for them. Many passengers come up to me and ask about my work - whether I like it or not. In general, we can’t criticize our work, but I answer as it is, that I don’t get paid much and that you wouldn’t wish working as a guide to your enemy.

It's cold outside now, and the first thing passengers ask about is air conditioning. I had a case when in Rostov-on-Don passengers did not have time to board at the station, and only their 14-year-old son remained in the carriage. He didn't know the phone numbers. The head of the train contacted the station, the parents eventually went to catch up with the train by taxi, and paid 5 thousand rubles. And on our last trip, our locomotive caught fire between stations, the driver made an emergency brake, and all my dishes fell and broke. The passengers jumped up and began to panic. After 40 minutes we set off, although it seemed that the locomotive had not yet been extinguished: if there had been more downtime, the entire crew would have lost their bonus.

This is how I prepare for the trip: a day before departure, I go to the store to do some shopping. It comes out to about 3 thousand rubles, and so on twice a month. The next day at the appointed time (eight hours before the train departs) I arrive at the park for a planning meeting. I have a suitcase, a bag and a large bag of food with me. The planning meeting is attended by the head of the train, the instructor and the conductors with whom I will go on the flight. The head of the train scatters us among the carriages, usually in a boy-girl pair. I have been working recently, and all my partners are new to me. They also say what class we will travel in - reserved seat, compartment or SV. I loved the reserved seat, because all the passengers are visible, I know who and where, and it’s easier to get out. Then we go to the carriages; I am happy when I see that the carriage is new. We receive the carriage - we count the inventory, we receive cleaning products, garbage bags, soap, paper and goods that will be sold. But a team doesn’t happen every once in a while; sometimes people have more swear words than ordinary ones.

Then the head of the trip walks around the train and checks that everything is in order. We arrive at the station in an hour, and boarding begins 30 minutes later. I must be dressed strictly in uniform and be the face of the company. Now it gets dark early, and you still need to turn on the lights in time and switch from evening to night, adjusting to local time. The big minus is that on the road I eat very little, a lot of unhealthy food, and I lose weight (but for women it’s the opposite).

The one-way trip takes four days. The climate, time zone and passengers are changing. On the last day of the journey, the guides do a report and clean up. Upon arrival, we go to the shower, to the store for groceries, sometimes souvenirs, and on the same day we leave back with new passengers. But they shouldn't see our fatigue. Upon arrival, we also don’t sleep for a day: after all the passengers have disembarked, we begin to count the inventory again; in case of a shortage, a certain amount can be deducted from the salary. If the train arrives at 09:45, then I get home at 15:45, if I'm lucky. All this time is not paid, only the travel time is paid.

Passengers' linen must also be returned; any shortage will also be deducted from the salary. Then we go to the standardization officers, they schedule the next flight, name the date and direction. In a special regime (in the summer, when trains run every day), rest takes 30–50% of the time (for example, after an eight-day trip, three to four days of rest); in normal times, after an eight-day trip, seven to nine days of rest.

Salary and expenses
There was no way to relax in the summer: you sleep for two days, go to the store the next day, and then go on a trip. Now I have more rest, but there are fewer hours, so, accordingly, the salary is lower. Salary depends on the time spent on the road. In a good month I receive 34 thousand rubles, in a bad month - 14–17 thousand rubles. On average it comes out to 22 thousand rubles. In August I drove 222 hours - that’s 16,198 rubles plus a 20% coefficient and an advance for the previous month - 7,700 rubles. This amount does not suit me. I want to move to Moscow and become a metro driver.

My mother and I rent an apartment, and I pay half - 7 thousand rubles. I spend 6 thousand rubles on groceries for a trip. I also eat fast food, and when we come to a city, I buy souvenirs there. There is no opportunity to go to classes or the gym, and you can forget about healthy eating. Other expenses include transportation (500 rubles) and telephone payments. After this there is almost no money left. Last month I paid a lot of money for temporary registration. And I save the rest for something good; I have to pay at least 5 thousand rubles for the same clothes.

1. Animals can be transported in compartment cars. And everything would be fine, but I once saw how a RACCOON was carried on a leash and walked at the stations. Hahaha I live here

2. If you think that no one will know about smoking in the toilet, you are mistaken, because the ventilation of the carriage is designed in such a way that all the air from the vestibule, toilet and oblique corridor is drawn into the conductor’s compartment

3. An information sheet is issued for caught smokers. The first such sheet - a fine of 1,500 rubles and the ticket will indicate that you are a smoker, the second - they simply will not sell you a train ticket

4. There were very mixed feelings when the Ukrainian train arrived at the station. If in my composition I knew for sure that I had perfect order and a new carriage, and so did our brigade, then our brothers had simply hell, both inside and outside the carriage. The USSR never left there

5. By the way, you can use the toilet during sanitary zones only if you need to wash and brush your teeth, shave, etc. The conductor must stand nearby and ensure that the toilet is not used

6. Now I’ll tell you a terrible secret - you don’t have to hand over your bed linen to the conductor when you exit at your station! And the conductor cannot force you to take him a set of linen; at most, be ready to go out in half an hour

7. For the love of God, don’t charge your gadgets from the sockets in the carriages. Most often, the wiring in the car is so-so, and if the iPhone doesn’t damage all the electrics in the car, then you will definitely ruin the battery. Powerbank is our everything! Although, in fairness, it is worth saying that the iPhone is not so scary. When they insert an extension cord into an extension cord, and there are several laptops in it - this is already scary and dangerous, conductors usually stop this

8. 3 and 5 compartments are emergency exits, the windows there do not open, so in the summer it is unbearably hot there and nothing can be done if there is no air conditioning. Take this into account if you are planning to travel far, but the carriage you have is the same

9. YOU CAN DRINK VODKA ON THE TRAIN. But only for passengers. And don’t overdo it - the conductor has the right to unseat a passenger who seems too drunk to him; it won’t be difficult to take two confirmations from passengers

10. In many cases, too frequent wet cleaning of the carriage by a conductor only leads to dust flying up from the bottom, so conductors are not pigs, these are features of operation

11. By the way, the conductor’s career growth is so-so - from grade 3 to grade 4, you work in two-story buildings and Siemens, the salary is 15 percent higher. Then, if God doesn’t save you, they’ll send you to a train master’s course. You won’t find such fuck-ups like there anywhere, that’s why they shove them there

12. Each element of the car that is not nailed to the floor must be monitored. Forks, spoons, glasses, brooms, knives, brushes - if they go missing, they are all deducted from our salary, so although the guide is obliged to give you a fork, spoon, etc. for free, he will still keep an eye on you

13. Brush brushes are a different story altogether. People manage to FLUSH THEM DOWN THE TOILET. Seriously, I don’t know how this happens, but in the second year of work I started tying the brush with a rope

14. Once there was a passenger traveling with us, whom other passengers handed over to the cops right at the station because he was injecting drugs in the toilet and leaving syringes in the trash can. He was admitted right at the station, but it turned out that he was diabetic and was injecting insulin

15. The air conditioning in the carriage is powered by a generator, which starts working only when the train picks up speed above 30 km/h. That is why a trip along the Black Sea coast (4 hours at a speed of 30-35 km/h and stops) turned into hell

16. In general, when it comes to air conditioning, the guide is on the side of the passengers. We are the same people who travel in the same conditions as you, although our shifts last 12 hours and all this time we have to be in uniform. If the conductor says that the air conditioner is not working, then he is not lying.

17. In the summer, student teams work on many trains. Most of them really try and work well, otherwise they simply wouldn’t be on the rosters. So if your guide is a student, then most likely he will try very hard for you

18. Very often, trains like Adler-St. Petersburg are temporarily equipped with old cars, because new ones are needed for other flights. And no one changed the price, so if you buy a ticket for 6-8 thousand you can easily travel in an old German carriage without a dry closet, things like that

19. But old German carriages are very much appreciated by conductors. Yes, the door opens with your foot, yes, it’s hot, but such cars definitely won’t have any breakdowns on the road and you won’t have to wait for repairmen at large stations. Hello, new TVZ cars!

20. The average salary of a student conductor is 25-30 thousand per month. Advance is issued at the beginning of the month, salary - on the 20th. It may seem that this is a steep salary for a student, but most of the money is spent on stupid food. And the conductors always want to eat

21. Personnel guides do not like students, and students do not like personnel guides. All this is transformed into a global pissing of everything and everyone during the delivery/acceptance of the carriage

22. The strangest and most infuriating question I’ve ever heard is that a couple of minutes before arriving at the station, those leaving the carriage ask “Which track will we arrive at?”
lol, I’m not a dispatcher, how do I know where we’ll be taken?

23. A conductor is a profession in which ingenuity must be turned to the maximum. She will help you resolve a conflict with a passenger, earn money, and win over your boss. If you're dumb as a plug, you have nothing to do here

24. Carriage depots organize dormitories for students for the summer. These are old carriages parked eternally in the ass of the world. The traffic never stops there, and life is in full swing, despite the unsanitary conditions and heat in such carriages

25. It also happens that a conductor travels in a group of three - three conductors for 2 cars, and for this one, hell and Israel come if he travels in a reserved seat. Sleeping in the “eat 5 minutes - sleep” mode, eating in the “doshirak of the gods” mode and that’s all

26. You don’t need to think that if a student conductor is traveling, he can do whatever he wants, because he still works temporarily. Everyone is asked the same, and a particularly large problem will result in expulsion from the university.

27. Passenger luggage is a different matter. Nobody wants to remember that the maximum weight of luggage is 36 kg for one ticket in a reserved seat, and the sum of three dimensions should not exceed 180 cm. No, you must definitely enter with 19 bags, because YES I WILL LAY THEM SOMEHOW

28. A group of tourists of 30 people was once traveling from Moscow to Belomorsk in a reserved seat, and they placed all their kayaks on 3 shelves on top. The feeling of the jungle never left me as I walked through this carriage.

29. There are a lot of people who like to buy fruits, vegetables, and lunches at small stations from grandmothers. More often than not, such purchases end in queues for the toilets.

30. The night shift is much more soulful than the day shift. Stick to the computer, sleep, sometimes open the doors at the stations, smoke at the technical stations, drink tea and eat - heaven on earth

31. Many students become conductors “to see the country from the train window.” During all the time I worked, I accumulated 3-4 hours of pure time looking out the window, the rest of the time I need to do something

32. Personally, I have never seen or given wet underwear to passengers. On the contrary, it comes from the laundry hot, and it’s a thrill, it’s nice to give it away. That's why 99% of wet underwear on trains is just stories

33. If you buy at least 100-150 rubles worth of tea products from the conductor, you will open the door to the magical world of smoking on the train if you are a smoker. 150 rubles is not such a big amount to go broke, and the conductor has a sales plan

34. You don’t need to think that you are the smartest spies in the world and can hide your garbage under a shelf, in a shelf, under a mattress, in a table, etc. After each flight, I raked out a bunch of small garbage, and once passengers forgot a gas burner on the 3rd shelf, lol

35. Conductors bathe in toilets during flights. Yes Yes. We take a basin of warm water, cut off the bottom of a five-liter bottle and pour it over ourselves until ready. Otherwise you will quickly turn into a huge piece of dirt and sweat

36. Wet cleaning should be done at least 2 times a day, dry cleaning - as the car gets dirty, but not less than 2 times. Remember this

37. Money from the sale of charity cards really goes to a fund to help children, this is not a scam from Russian Railways. This is handled by a special department

38. If you want to truly thank the conductor for the trip, call the hotline. The likelihood of receiving a bonus will increase several times

39. I hate people who don’t empty the water from their doshirak after themselves, but throw the box straight into the trash bag. It then leaks, most often onto the floor, and complaints begin. Don't do that, better flush it down the toilet and throw it away, it will take 1 minute

40. No matter how many warnings are written, people still throw paper into the dry closet. You are ruining your own life; such a toilet cannot be repaired on the road. And so because of one fucker the whole carriage suffers

41. After being fired, the first desire is to take a human shower. Ooooh, how much happiness there is in this 😍

42. Carrying a group of children is both a plus and a minus.
Plus - if the carriage is full, you can sleep peacefully and not open small stations, plus they often buy ALL tea products
Minus - THEY YELL AND LITTER LIKE PIGS

43. It’s incredibly nice when a person cleans up after himself if he accidentally litters. Let's all be like this ❤️

44. In the summer, you can travel long distances very cheaply in good carriages. Discounts on the top bunk in a compartment - 50%, you can save money and save yourself from reserved seats, grannies and constant walking around the carriage

45. Also, the work involves minor scratches, abrasions and bruises. Sometimes you don’t even know where or what you hit, but it hurts and goes away for a long time

46. The water in titanium is not endless, so you must always make sure that the car is filled with water. The electric boiler also only works when in motion, so you need to especially monitor the water level, because you can burn the heating elements and you will be heating with anything

47. Oh yes, old carriages really burn with coal. You can't, but who cares?

48. Vapers are a different story. You can’t vape in the carriage, just like you can’t smoke, but there are smart people who THIS IS STEAM AND NOT SMOKE I DON’T SMOKE

49. Rain is a guide’s worst nightmare. You wash the floor 3 times more often, and usually step over a rag to wipe your feet.

50. Solidarity between the conductor and the passenger is when you wash the floor in the compartment, and everyone leaves their seats, taking their shoes and not disturbing you.

51. Safety precautions are not an empty phrase. Although this is monitored, accidents occur every year with both passengers and conductors. Therefore, we kindly ask you to be careful and listen to the conductor, all instructions on the piece of iron are written in blood

52. PACKAGES CANNOT BE TRANSMITTED. ABSOLUTELY IMPOSSIBLE. EVEN ENVELOPES. An FSB agent planted a dummy bomb in the vestibule of my friend, disguised as a package of pills. Almost got fired

53. In new carriages, the conductor has a refrigerator. We are obliged to carry baby food in it if asked, but if you ask the conductor, we will put something else

54. Conductors sometimes sell their own tea instead of the one sold with stickers. Most often, this is not because of a good life - the conductor buys back the remaining tea products, or the remainder is sold later
I personally now always have some little thing, but I’ll buy it from the conductor, solidarity

55. Well, or if a child urgently needs to go, we have no right to refuse, but in this case you can’t press the toilet pedal

56. In general, sanitary zones are a rather conditional thing. If the carriage is full, it is enough to close it 5 minutes before the station and open it 5 minutes after departure. This reduces the stress of passengers in every sense)

57. Watching meetings and partings is truly a magical thing, for which it is worth working as a guide. Entire stories fly by next to you, and to feel it is something

58. If you decide to save money and not buy linen, your lot is to lie on the shelf or walk around the carriage, because you can’t use a mattress without linen, yes

59. The conductor’s area of responsibility is a clean carriage and good service; if the air conditioner is broken and it’s hot in the carriage, then his maximum is to open the windows and pray for the repairmen

60. During my work, I learned to cook buckwheat with meat, naval pasta, chicken soup, sausages and salads on titanium, so the guides don’t always eat only doshiraki
They alone are guaranteed to bring home an ulcer.

61. The dining car is a separate caste. The cooks and waiters practically live in it, and at night they lie down right on the floor, because there is nowhere else. And during the day they can feed the guides at a slightly reduced price

62. Pissing and theft flourish on a cosmic scale. They steal everything from everyone, so even when leaving for 5 minutes I locked everything

63. Guides are the place where love is. I know many couples who started dating while they were partners in train cars.

64. In theory, the conductor is obliged to provide dominoes, checkers, chess upon request, but in 3 years of work I have NEVER seen them, not in a single carriage!

65. Conductors are prohibited from carrying, let alone selling, alcohol in carriages. Punishable by dismissal and blacklist

66. And most importantly, conductors are the same people as passengers. If you treat them like a human being, then your trip will be very comfortable, additional goodies are possible and a guaranteed wake-up call if you go out at night, etc.

67. I always used a little trick - when the white nights began near Murmansk, I closed the windows so that the light would not shine on the sleeping people
It didn’t take long for a cloud of gratitude to arrive 😄

68. The conductor sometimes gives out small questionnaires, asking you to fill out your first name, last name and telephone number.
This is an obligation, guys, the probability of a call to you is 1%, so it will be good if you help the conductor and fill out

69. The side of the toilet has an advantage that sometimes outweighs all the disadvantages - you are always the first to go to the toilet in the morning

70. According to corporate rules, the conductor is not allowed to discuss his work with passengers, so most conductors will not support your conversation about how bad Russian Railways are with old cars

71. Sleeping while sitting in the service compartment, because your partner sleeps in the rest compartment, and bags of laundry are the norm on the top bunk.

72. Getting sick on a flight is as easy as shelling pears, even my strongest comrades spent a week with a temperature of 38, and I had to work non-stop and sleep at night on the flights.

73. If a carriage catches fire at speed, it will burn out in 5 minutes. Observe fire safety

74. If you want to lose weight, become a guide; in 3 summers I have never lost less than 15 kg

75. There are auditors who travel with you for work, and there are auditors who simply go on vacation. The first ones are scum, the second ones are the most understanding people in the world

76. Conductors who leave the toilet dirty will be eaten by their own - because a complaint about the toilet of one ruins the bonuses of the entire staff, so I haven’t seen really disgusting dirty pushes for quite some time

77. On flights to the north, they give you a LOT of toilet paper, air fresheners, rags and paper towels, so a good half of it all gets taken home at home stations

78. The quality sector is the representatives of Satan on earth. They make sure that the carriage is literally licked clean, they write violations for the fact that the window is cracked, or the paint on the wall has come off. As a rule, it is unrealistic to pass the quality sector without violations, and this is minus the bonus

79. If there is dripping from the ceiling in the toilet, give the conductor a whack, he didn’t make sure that when refueling the car, the hose was disconnected in time and the car was “overfilled”

80. The average sales plan for tea products per passenger is 25 rubles per person. If you carried 200 people in a reserved seat in both directions, which is quite realistic, get ready to pay 5k. Souvenirs are not taken into account here

81. The best sleep is when you have passed the day shift and can sleep at night without breaking your routine. I always worked with my best friend during the day to make sure that everything in the carriage was good and without jambs, and he kept the floors clean at night

82. I love passengers with a speaker. Although they most often listen to something old, it’s a little more fun to ride this way.

83. I can’t tell you much about two-story buildings. I only know that on the second floor the top shelf is very close to the ceiling, and the automatic coupling is simply complete, the cars kept uncoupling while moving. At the Adler depot, there were mostly two-story buildings under renovation, I don’t know why

84. What they don’t give us for sale - Swiss knives, pillows for sleeping, gold cup holders, children’s coloring books. Once we were given Altai balms for potency on a flight, and we left in an instant

85. If you’re lucky, tea products at the end of the flight are accepted after the fact - as much as you sell, give back as much. But it must be the top boss of the train

86. I noticed that the conductor’s level of nonsense increases in proportion to the age of the subject. Therefore, young guides can get moving, if anything)

87. A passenger carriage conductor is actually a difficult job. I know people who broke down after the first flights and went home, not caring about anything.

88. If you want to know Russia from the inside, welcome to the train! Here all the different layers of our society are discussed: from painters to customs officers of the port of Novorossiysk

89. Knowledge of foreign languages was very useful. Americans, British, Chinese, Germans, Norwegians, Greeks, Israelis regularly travel from Moscow to St. Petersburg - and he helped everyone settle down and find their place. As a reward they gave money or a souvenir - a Swiss knife

90. Despite all the difficulty and ambiguity, I really loved this job. The feeling of being needed comes almost immediately; this is one of those jobs where the result of your work is immediate. A passenger's gratitude for your work means a lot

91. Well, a little more about money. The rate of a 3rd category conductor (students) varies from 75 to 85 rubles per hour. The most interesting thing is that your working time does not include parking time. Even if it’s 2 minutes, even if it’s 40. It seems small, but over the summer you lose about 1000

92. “It must be hard for you, right, young man?” “Poor thing, how do you work here?”
People ask, as if regretting it, and after 10 minutes they throw the garbage past the trash can.

93. During work, a thermonuclear hatred of seeds develops! Lord, you start dreaming about them at some point!
Everything is in husks: the floor, shelves, carpets, windows, toilets, bed linen, it’s easier to collect a Lexus with your ass than to completely collect all the skins from the seeds on the road

94. A cool new service - take your car with you in a special trailer. I saw a fairly expensive Ferrari being loaded into Adler. Don't transport your car in a special carriage, don't.

95. Some trains have a service - a shower in the headquarters car. It costs 100-250 rubles, but the guides are clearly asked not to bathe in this shower🤔

96. Russian Railways is criticized a lot, and criticized for good reason, but it is a fact that there are more and more new cars, especially on southern routes. There is something to compare with

97. Every third conductor is a smoker. Precisely because there is simply nothing to do at large technical stations, plus the workload is such that you somehow need to relieve stress after the shift. With such guides you can smoke, tell stories and just have fun

98. At 12 o'clock in the afternoon, daylight lighting is turned on, at 19 o'clock - evening fluorescent lighting, at 23 o'clock - night lighting. Often everyone is already asleep by 9, so they complain that the conductor doesn’t want to turn off the lights. And these are just instructions according to which we work

99. Don’t be surprised by old cars if your train number starts with 4, 5 or 6. I myself saw how, to form one summer train from Adler, they pulled out a car from somewhere with broken glass in one of the compartments and on the door. It must have been cold

100. Anniversary tweet. I'm revealing another secret. In old cars, two vestibules have pockets for storing coal. The temperature there is lower than throughout the train, if you are carrying, for example, a fish from north to south, negotiate with the conductor and carry the fish in this pocket

101. In old carriages there is an absolutely amazing system: one of your choice can work: a boiler or ventilation. Some bosses force the titanium to be heated with fuel so that the fan can work at the same time. The show has begun!

102. There is always a first aid kit in the train carriage. It contains bandages, gauze, a bunch of plasters, gloves, iodine, but no medicine. It is prohibited to give yours to passengers. Therefore, always check all medications before your trip, and do not waste money on it.

103. The best shawarma I ate on the road was at the Michurinsk-Uralsky station. She's really worth the money!

104. One granny really liked the way I worked, and she decided to treat me to homemade tomatoes. Having opened the package, I saw that they were rotten through and through. Attention, of course, is nice, but not like that😂

105. The conductor is obliged to provide first aid to a passenger who becomes ill. This is specifically taught, so don’t be shy to ask for help. At the nearest large station, doctors will already come to the carriage and examine you professionally.

106. In compartment cars there are always people who love to stand in the aisle and look out the window. They do not leave even when the guide goes with a bucket to wash the floor. Guys, how can I explain to you that you are interfering?

107. The conductor is prohibited from releasing people at stations that last less than 5 minutes. Be understanding, there is no need for this “I’ll have a quick smoke.” This is a safety issue, my friends, so be patient.

108. A little more about alcohol. The conductor has the right, in principle, not to let a passenger into the carriage if, in the conductor’s opinion, he is too drunk or behaves inappropriately. Even if he had the most expensive ticket to the coolest place

109. A little about the stop valve. The conductor should release the stop valve ONLY in case of a threat to the lives of passengers. In all other cases, an act is written with a fine of about 5 thousand, plus even a minute of train downtime on the tracks costs a pretty penny.

110. The train manager gives lotteries, most often 3 pieces, they need to be sold. They are already considered to be purchased by you, so your task is to sell them anyway. How? Use your wits! Didn't sell? Prepare some money

111. About breaking into a train toilet. So you understand, the crowbar attached to the car is a huge reinforcement bar about 1.5 meters long and 2 centimeters in diameter. In principle, it’s hard to carry it, let alone throw it somewhere. This is probably why there were no experimenters

112. The ingenuity of train electricians is amazing. Often, if the air conditioning in the carriages broke down, a couple of windows in the aisle were pulled out (!!) and a crazy draft began in the carriage. Rain? Are we going north? Don't care, cover it with a sheet so the floor doesn't get wet

113. Special admiration for Pechora station when you go to Vorkuta. The orchestra at the station is amazing, it’s worth traveling so far just for it!

114. Back in the days when there weren’t so many checks, one train manager taught how to bottle chacha in 0.5 bottles for sale. The bottom line is that chacha from the south is very popular, basically, if they ferment in the carriages, then it is it

115. At some stations, a customs officer, or someone in civilian clothes, kindly approaches the conductors and asks about the presence of foreign citizens. For 3 years I still don’t understand why this is needed and what will happen if you answer that they exist

116. A conductor must be clean-shaven before a flight, but I couldn’t shave before one flight because the machine broke and about 2 mm of stubble appeared. Before the flight, the instructor stood next to me with a ruler, the passengers were perplexed, to put it mildly.

117. About the photo at the beginning of the post. This is the first thing I saw when I arrived at the Adler depot and entered the student dormitory in 2016. This is not a corpse, this is a student sleeping, it’s just hot in the carriage at night

29.10.19 14 030 27

When you travel on a train, it seems that working as a conductor is not so difficult: you collected tickets, gave you tea, kept order - and that’s it.

Elena Ivanova

passenger train conductor

In fact, not all of them. The conductors are responsible for the serviceability of the equipment and the comfort of passengers. If something goes wrong on a trip, they ask us. At the same time, we don’t get that much - up to 40 thousand at best, and on average 25 thousand rubles.

I'll tell you what it's like to work as a passenger train conductor.

What is the work

A passenger train conductor is a waiter, a cleaner, a stoker, an electrician, a psychologist, a salesman and many others rolled into one. He checks the identity of passengers, seats them in the right seats in the carriage, gives them linen, feeds them, enters information about passengers into a strict reporting form and drops them off at the right station. The conductor is responsible for the life and health of passengers, so he must know how to behave in an emergency.

We also resolve conflicts and keep the carriage clean. Every trip we need to sell goods, and in winter we need to clear the snow under the cars and remove the ice.

All about work and earnings

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On almost every trip, some problems arise: either passengers do not have the necessary documents and cannot be boarded, or someone does not make it to the train. Sometimes someone drinks too much. And of course, some of the passengers will definitely smoke in the vestibule or between the cars, and this is prohibited. All these problems are solved by us, the conductors, and the head of the train.

Every time we are obliged to be extremely polite and attentive, even if the passenger is rude and behaves inappropriately. On one of the trips, a passenger demanded that the temperature in the carriage be +21 °C. He came to the conductors' compartment and made a fuss. Each time I had to calmly explain that the temperature is set by the climate control system and there is nothing I can do about it.

Categories of railway professions

All positions are divided into categories. The higher the rank, the more responsibility and higher the salary. For example, the first category is for car cleaners, and the heads of the railway service are the 15-17th category. Conductors are workers of the 2-5th category:

the second category - for conductors of some commuter trains;
third category - for conductors of long-distance trains;
the fourth - for conductors of branded trains and international trains;
the fifth - with conductors who know a foreign language on international trains.

The train manager has grades from 8 to 11, the logic of the grades is the same. The train manager is responsible for the safety of passengers, supervises conductors and technical staff, and resolves conflict situations and complaints. He is also responsible for ensuring that the train leaves and arrives on time.

Railway companies, salary and schedule

There are several railway companies in Russia: Russian Railways, Grand Express, TransclassService, etc. Russian Railways owns other companies, for example the Federal Passenger Company. They all regularly hire guides.

Salaries in railway companies vary. TKS pays more. One of the reasons is that the conductors there travel on different, longer schedules. At FPC they offer a salary from 25,000 to 30,000 R per month, and at TKS - 39,000 R.

The conductors work in shifts. The schedule is 8/8, 14/14, 16/16. Sometimes they can be sent on several flights in a row, for example in the summer or if there are not enough conductors. Such shifts are paid at an increased rate, as is work on holidays.

FPC offers a salary of 25 thousand rubles per month and presents a long list of responsibilities and requirements for the candidate

How to become a guide

Courses. Becoming a conductor in Russian Railways is not difficult. It is enough to have a secondary education and take courses - they are held from September to December. The courses teach how to resolve conflicts, provide knowledge on safety precautions, labor protection, design and operation of equipment in passenger cars. Courses from FPK and Grand Express are free.

To become a train manager, you cannot do without a higher education. The specialty does not have to be railway, although it is easier.

After the courses, future guides undergo instructions, testing and internship.

At the briefing introduce them to the place of work, labor regulations, and basic issues of labor protection. Another briefing is carried out directly at the workplace - they tell you where to cross the tracks, how to behave in a particular carriage, etc. Once every three months there are repeated briefings.

At the testing stage you need to complete tests of logic, knowledge of disciplines and pass a psychological test.

During the internship beginners go on a trial flight with an experienced guide. They can be taken on any flight, there are no restrictions on range. It happens that you have to do an internship on the Moscow - Vladivostok flight. During the internship, newcomers fill out diaries. They write there what they did and when: they checked tickets, cleaned up, sold goods, etc. An experienced conductor evaluates a newcomer at the end of the voyage. We usually give good marks because newcomers always try to show their best side.

Every few years, conductors undergo additional training and pass exams in all railway disciplines. Before the 2018 FIFA World Cup, conductors on trains carrying foreign fans received an additional course in basic English.

How does work work while traveling?

Before boarding passengers at the final station, I clean the carriage: I wash the floors and all surfaces, I clean the toilets. I work on a company train, so I have to make the beds on the top bunks. A few minutes before boarding, we receive a list of passengers in our carriage via special devices.

Landing. At the initial station, boarding occurs half an hour before the train departs. I check the passenger's information on the identity document and on the ticket. Problems often arise with documents: it happens, for example, that passengers buy a discount ticket without having such a right. In this case, I call the train manager, and we deal with each problem individually.

Passengers often make mistakes in the data - this happens at least once during the trip. According to internal regulations, a passenger can make one mistake in their last name or document number. You can enter the carriage even if the ticket indicates the wrong gender.

If there are more errors, you need to have time to correct the data before departure. We inform the train manager about the errors, he checks with the operator whether the ticket is valid, after which the operator changes the data. It is better, of course, to arrive at the station in advance, so that in such a situation you can do everything before the train departs. The service costs 200 RUR.

Children under five years of age also travel on trains for free in the same berth with an accompanying person. In this case, the child needs to issue a free ticket at the box office. Parents often forget about this. Then the child is issued a ticket on the train, but they also charge 200 RUR for this.

We check passenger data on the electronic ticket control device. There is a list of those who bought tickets. If a passenger returns a ticket, this is immediately displayed. This is how we identify rabbits who buy tickets on the Internet, print them out, and then return them and try to get into the carriage using the printout. Photo: Russian Railways

After the train departs I ask you again to show your passport. Many passengers don’t like this, because their tickets have already been checked upon boarding. But we do this not out of whim, but in order to identify free riders who entered the carriage under the guise of seeing them off and stayed.

After checking the tickets I'm going to sell goods. On unbranded trains, conductors hand out linen, and open toilets after the sanitary zone. We also offer to buy additional food, tea, slippers, hygiene items, and souvenirs.

After the goods are sold, I enter information about passengers into strict reporting forms. You cannot make mistakes on the forms. If I find an inaccuracy, only the train manager can correct it. If the train crosses the border of a country, the conductor must enter the data of passengers traveling abroad into the migration cards.

Conductor's compartment

The conductors usually have two compartments: the first, where we sleep, the second, where we work and monitor the sensors. While one conductor is working, the other is resting in the sleeping compartment.

Sensors in the working compartment show what the temperature is in the carriage, whether everything is fine with electrical appliances, and whether there is hot water in the boiler. This compartment also has a sink, sometimes a microwave and a coffee machine. Dishes, goods, first aid kit and equipment are also stored there.

Periodically you need to clean the carriage: wash floors and toilets, remove garbage. During long stops in winter, it is sometimes necessary to clear snow and ice from undercar equipment: wheels, levers, steps. Even before the trip, you need to throw mattresses on the upper shelves, and after each landing, carry heavy bags of laundry. Because of this, my back often hurts.

In addition, I must perform the following duties:

Make the bed for sick people, people with disabilities or young children.
Make sure that the toilets have all the necessary hygiene supplies. If they are not available, passengers can ask the conductor to bring them.
Give notice of stops at least 30 minutes in advance.
Ensure that the equipment in the carriage is in good working order.
Provide cutlery and glasses.
If necessary, provide first aid. One day a passenger had an epileptic seizure. With the help of other passengers, I held him until the doctors arrived and stuck a spoon between his teeth to prevent him from biting his tongue.
Do not allow passengers into the carriage with prohibited, dirty or smelly items, for example, a weapon without permission to carry and a cover, or a can of gasoline.

I don’t search anyone, but if I notice people with prohibited items, I am obliged to call the train manager and the transport security service. If these items are found on a passenger, he may be dropped off. Once I had to force passengers to leave a can of gasoline on the platform: it stank throughout the entire carriage.

Before the final station, I pick up the laundry and take the passenger registration forms and tickets to the headquarters car, where the head of the train is traveling. If passengers have not returned their laundry, we collect it ourselves. When passengers get off, I check to see if anyone has left their belongings in the carriage. If I find something, we draw up a report and hand over the things to the station duty officer.

Difficulties

You have to communicate a lot with passengers. This communication is not always pleasant, but in any case you have to smile. For example, conductors should not allow drunks into the carriage. Moreover, if a passenger drinks on a trip or is rowdy, according to the rules he must be dropped off at the nearest station. At such moments, I have to be both adamant and polite, and this is not so easy when a passenger begins to be rude or unruly.

Passengers sometimes come with very strange questions. On branded trains, both toilets are located at the far end of the car. People often don’t believe that near the conductors’ compartment there is not a toilet, but a storage room, and they think that there is another toilet there, and the conductors, such scoundrels, hide it.

One day, around five in the morning, I jumped up from the roar and heard a cry: “Does the train chief know what you’ve done here?!” I run out, and there is a man standing near the open storage room, with bulging eyes looking at the shelves with equipment and yelling: “Where did you put the toilet? Why did you put shelves here?” I had to explain to him that on branded trains both toilets are located at the far end of the car, and the shelves were installed not by me, but by those who designed and built the car. The man didn’t believe it at first, but eventually calmed down. They did not call the train manager.

Sometimes passengers surprise you. On one trip, a man asked if the train was passing by Dzerzhinsk. I replied that it was passing by, but not stopping there. The passenger was not at a loss and asked if it was possible to “quietly” get off the train while it was moving, saying that no one would know. I had to disappoint him.

Many people think that guides travel a lot and can explore the city in between. In fact, we are allowed into the city only with the permission of the train director and only to the pharmacy, grocery store or canteen. If I go out into the city, I don’t even try to go somewhere else: such a violation can result in a fine.

Bonuses for working as a conductor

Working as a guide is hard work, but there are benefits.

Stability. On the railway, the salary is white, bonuses are awarded for loyalty to the company. The bonus is paid every five years in the amount of several salaries. They also pay extra for working on holidays, and they always pay for sick leave. Everything is according to the Labor Code.

Full social package. Conductors are provided with voluntary medical insurance - VHI, which includes dental services. They also give you the opportunity to receive free treatment in sanatoriums and visit the swimming pool. Upon application, railway companies make additional contributions to the pension fund towards a funded pension, and fully pay for railway travel from home to place of work, if the distance is not more than 150 km. Children of guides go to summer camps at a big discount.

Once a year, conductors and their children can travel anywhere in Russia by train there and back for free - minus personal income tax. This means that 13% of the ticket price will be deducted from your salary. The rest of the time, everything is as usual, no benefits.

Such social guarantees are indicated in the working conditions in the vacancy from the FPC

Briefly about conductors

Working as a conductor is hard.
People go to the railroad for a stable income and a social package.
Usually it is not difficult to become a guide - a three-month course is enough. If you want to become a train manager, higher education is a must.
Most passengers are well-mannered and adequate people, but there will always be those with whom it is more difficult to find a common language. If the conflict cannot be resolved, the train manager will always come to the rescue.