Northern Trainee Train Driver Assessment

What Northern asks for

Northern’s trainee train driver advert asks candidates to "Obtain a pass to an enhanced level on the Train Driver Psychometric Assessments, which will be taken as part of the recruitment process." It adds that a pass "is valid for 5 years" and that "you have only three attempts to complete the psychometrics": fail the third and you cannot qualify for a train driver post.

The psychometric assessments are the national battery in Appendix A of RSSB’s standard RIS-3751-TOM, which every company recruiting trainee drivers on Great Britain’s mainline railway uses:

• Stage 1, on paper: the Group Bourdon and TEA-Occ for attention, TRP1 for memory and TRP2 for reasoning, with no clock in front of you.
• Stage 2, on a computer: WAFV vigilance, ATAVT traffic pictures and 2HAND on Schuhfried’s Vienna Test System, then the Situational Judgement Exercise.
• The interview: the Multi-Modal Interview, built around examples you are asked to prepare in advance.

How long it takes

Northern says the recruitment process is expected to take approximately six months, and that after applying you may wait 8 to 12 weeks for an update because of the volume of applications. It also warns that anyone who has interviewed for a driver post within a year could be rejected automatically, so check when your last interview was before you apply again.

How you pass, and what you are told

Each test is passed or failed on its own, and you must pass every core test. You are never shown a score: results go to Northern, and you hear the outcome from Northern. Every result is kept on a national database that each train company checks, so it follows you to any later application. The waits between attempts are set nationally: if you started on or after 7 December 2024, the second attempt is at least a year after the first failure and the third at least five years after it. Our guide to train driver attempts and standards covers the full rules.

Practise the tests

These run the six tests that can be sat on a screen. 2HAND needs the centre’s joysticks, and the Situational Judgement Exercise and the interview are explained on our provider page rather than simulated.

• Group Bourdon (Dots Test) (11 minutes, free) - Five two-minute sheets of dot groups: strike every four. Free, and the place to start building accuracy.
• TRP1 Rules and Procedures Memory (21 minutes) - Learn a procedure, lose the sheet and your notes, then answer questions on it.
• TRP2 Dials Reasoning (8 minutes) - Order four dials by a priority rule; candidates report 43 questions in 8 minutes.
• TEA-Occ Attention (Lift and Directory) (10 minutes) - Count tones and search a directory, then do both at once.
• WAFV Vigilance (Grey Square) (32 minutes) - Thirty minutes of a flashing square: respond only when it darkens.
• ATAVT Traffic Perception (6 minutes) - Traffic pictures shown for a second: say what was in each.

Our games place each result against what candidates report passing with for the national and enhanced standards, because the real marks are not published. Full detail is on the UK train driver practice page.

Common questions

Is Northern still called Northern Rail?

Northern is the trading name today. Older material, including The OPC’s 2020 list, calls it Northern Rail.

Will I get practice material from Northern?

RSSB says the company you applied to sends approved practice materials at least a week before your assessment. If yours have not arrived, contact Northern’s recruitment team.

Do the three attempts include attempts with other companies?

Yes. The limit is national and every result sits on the national database, so an attempt with another operator counts here too.

Applying to another operator? See our guide to the GWR trainee driver assessment, listed in 2020 as using the national standard.