Avanti West Coast Trainee Train Driver Guide
Avanti publishes its whole trainee driver process, stage by stage. Here it is, with the pay, the depots and what its enhanced standard costs you
Avanti’s five stages
Avanti sets out its trainee driver process on its train driver recruitment page, last updated on 23 January 2025. The Occupational Psychology Centre (The OPC) runs most of it:
- Application form, on Avanti’s own site.
- Online sift. The OPC checks how far you live from the depot and whether you have sat the assessments before and are eligible to try again.
- Online questionnaire and online tests. The questionnaire asks why you want to be a train driver. If you pass it, you sit two online tests: a Visual Search Exercise and the Magnificent 7 Situational Judgement Test (M7-SJT).
- Paper tests at The OPC’s assessment centre: Group Bourdon, TEA-Occ, and TRP1 and TRP2.
- Computer tests and an interview, face to face: the Vienna tests of vigilance and reaction, and what Avanti calls a Competency Based Interview.
- Driver manager interview, hosted by Avanti. Pass it and you join the talent bank.
Avanti numbers the online sift as stage 1.5, which is why five stages make six steps. Neither online test appears by that name in the battery RSSB’s standard lists, and both come before you are invited to a centre, so they are the stage most guides leave out. Stages 3 and 4 are the national battery itself.
Two attempts or three? The sources disagree
Avanti’s page says "individuals have 2-lifetime attempts" and that anyone who fails a stage more than twice cannot reapply, across every train company. RSSB’s FAQ on the current standard allows three failed attempts to anyone who starts the process on or after 7 December 2024, and two to anyone who sat any part before then. Avanti’s page was updated seven weeks after that change and still gives the old figure. If you are counting on a third attempt, ask Avanti’s recruitment team which rule it applies before you sit anything. The national rules are set out in our guide to train driver attempts and standards.
The talent bank, and when Avanti recruits
Passing every stage does not mean a start date. The Euston advert says successful applicants are "placed in a Talent Bank, and offered a role as and when they arise", and warns that it may close early "if we receive a strong response". Avanti’s recruitment page asks you to register your interest so it can email you when it next recruits, and an Avanti driver manager answering questions on FirstGroup’s careers site in May 2025 said Avanti does not accept speculative applications.
Windows can be short. Reporting on Avanti’s 2023 campaign, Rail UK said applications were kept open for a week, "rather than the standard 24 to 48 hours", and drew over 9,000 applications from men and over 1,000 from women. Everyone who passed the interview went into the talent bank to wait for a course at their preferred location. Registering interest, and having your practice done before an advert opens, is the realistic plan.
Training and pay
The Euston advert describes "a structured two-year programme" leading to the Level 3 Train Driver Apprenticeship, with up to 16 weeks of classroom training before the practical side. It offered a starting salary of £47,100 and "the potential to progress to over £80,000 within a few years". The Holyhead advert of September 2025 offered £45,551 and around £77,000 within a few years, and warned that training "takes up to two years and can be intense".
Who can apply
- Age. Avanti’s 2025 material asked for 20 and a half at the point of applying, and the March 2026 Euston advert for at least 20. The legal minimum for a GB train driving licence fell to 18 on 30 June 2026, and we have not seen an Avanti advert since, so check the age in the next one.
- Distance.Within 60 minutes of the depot, able to get there "at all times, even outside usual public transport hours".
- Education.GCSEs at grade C or above, or Level 2 Functional Skills, in maths, English and ICT, though the Holyhead advert added: "Don’t have the academic qualifications? You can still apply."
- Checks. Unrestricted right to work in the UK, a DBS check, Avanti’s drugs and alcohol policy, and the driver medical, including the Ishihara colour vision test.
- Hours. Shifts, including weekends and nights.
The national tests, in brief
Stages 3 and 4 are the battery every GB mainline company uses, set by RSSB’s standard RIS-3751-TOM. Each test is passed or failed on its own, you are never told a score, and every result goes on a national database. Our train driver tests page explains each one. These are the six we let you practise:
- Group Bourdon (Dots Test) (11 minutes, free)
- TEA-Occ Attention (Lift and Directory) (10 minutes)
- TRP1 Rules and Procedures Memory (21 minutes)
- TRP2 Dials Reasoning (8 minutes)
- WAFV Vigilance (Grey Square) (32 minutes)
- ATAVT Traffic Perception (6 minutes)
Avanti’s online Visual Search Exercise and M7-SJT come before all of these, and we do not simulate them.
Common questions
Is Avanti West Coast being nationalised?
Yes. The government announced on 28 September 2026 that Avanti’s services will be nationalised from 7 March 2027. Nothing published says the driver process will change; check the advert you apply to.
Does a failed attempt with another company count at Avanti?
Yes. Avanti says lifetime attempts "extend to all attempts across any train operator", and The OPC checks your history at the online sift.
Can I apply to a depot further away and move later?
Avanti’s adverts ask you to live within 60 minutes of the depot you apply to, and The OPC checks the distance at the sift, so apply to a depot you can already reach.
Comparing operators? Northern also asks for an enhanced pass, while GWR was listed in 2020 as using the national standard.