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What education is needed to work as a train conductor. What do conductors live on?

For those who love to travel, get vivid impressions, watch a kaleidoscope of new faces and chat with a wide variety of people! We invite you to visit us in ... "This is how the announcement of the recruitment of those who are ready to plow for days Russia, help passengers, deliver tea in iron cup holders and change bed linen at each, of course, station. For those who are ready to choose the profession of a conductor of a passenger car. To colorful descriptions, people who have already worked on this difficult profile can add permanent lack of sleep and a day without sleep, showdowns with brawlers, a broken work schedule, fines and low (relatively, however, everything is relative in our country) wages.

Nevertheless, the profession of a conductor for many who have chosen it remains the most beloved. Example - Maria Ukolova and Pavel Skvortsov. In a long interview to the site ezhmedia young people told why they chose this profession and never regret it.

Masha is an architect, and Pavel is a car mechanic. But they were united by the railway, the work of the conductor and the place of study - the Vladimir student detachment of conductors ( SOP) « Pulse».

To become a "train driver" and get a job, you need to be at least 18 and no older than 24 years. Pass a medical examination, fill out a questionnaire and, as it is written on the website: “pack your things, do not forget a lot of positive and a sea of ​​energy, and go all summer to conquer the city on the Neva (training takes place in St. Petersburg)". The ex-head of SOP "Impulse" told about other features of the site Elena Mishkanova.

“Students, boys and girls, are coming. Judging by last year, the excitement has already subsided. 3-4 years ago, the initial stage came more than 100 people. Education is lectures, exams, graduation. Everything is standard.

In a week you can see both a polar day and a dolphin in the sea.

There is a desire to work on a corporate train, there is already advanced training, other categories and additional training. Just a student at once no one will put work on a branded train.

It was our detachment that was taught by the teachers of the technical school from Malaya Vishera. And so, in general, there are many SOP institutions where there is such a specialty.

The beauty of the profession is that Russian Railways is an incredible collection of different people and emotions. When you are a conductor, you are always out of your comfort zone, it coolly pumps your own personal qualities. And nobody canceled the beauty of nature outside the window. You can see in a week and a polar day, and a dolphin in the sea", - Elena Mishkanova explained.

At the end of special courses, no one will force you to work as a conductor. Every free to do what is more interesting to him, more necessary and more important. Maria and Pavel decided to continue not studying, but to learn in practice what the profession of a conductor is. True, as the guys admitted, it’s still more comfortable and calmer for them to work, albeit on the same train, but in different cars.

The heroes of the interview are working on the route St. Petersburg - Adler in a double decker car. “The first fundamental difference is the capacity of a compartment car. Here 64 people, not 32, as in the usual composition. Secondly, everything works throughout the entire journey. This is a great happiness for the conductor, as well as for the passengers. Each compartment has 4 sockets, no one stands near the toilets with a phone to charge it. By the way, the car is heated without coal, just press the button, and the temperature will be ideal. No titanium with boiling water- Passengers come directly to the conductor with a small electric kettle. In many cars there is no conductor's compartment, in its place there is a coffee machine. And video cameras do not leave smokers a single chance to violate the ban.

Maria and Pavel work according to the scheme: skated two flights, two flights are resting. But it's already summer, the girl says, and now you can only dream of rest.

When working in the last car, you still need to have time to monitor the serviceability of the tail signal lights.

In fact, the most important thing for the conductor is to provide maximum comfort to all passengers without exception. In addition, his duties include working with all the technical equipment of the train: water supply, ventilation, electricity, as well as sanitization. Conductor should be able to provide medical assistance, help with paperwork (if the train crosses the border). When working in the last car, you need more keep up with for the serviceability of the tail signal lights.

The salary of a conductor depends on several factors: it is seasonality(in summer there are more flights and more passengers), train type(the new equipment is modern, it is more difficult to work with it, which means that the salary is higher). In branded trains, the salary is higher than in ordinary ones. We will not talk about any specific amounts: they change too often. For example, this year salary has already increased since March 1, and will be indexed again in October.

If you go through the sites on the Internet, the following picture emerges. On average, the conductor receives about 23 thousand rubles. This is if we assume that it works according to the norm, that is 176 hours per month. But very often conductors, wanting to get more, recycle this limit. If we consider the option when bonuses, overtime and other allowances are awarded for work, then getting a “car driver” can be about 50 thousand rubles. But, as they specify on the websites, it is extremely problematic to fulfill such a norm.

In addition, for every five years of continuous work, the conductor receives a bonus in the amount of 3-4 salaries. Vouchers are allocated annually to sanatoriums and summer camps- free or partially paid. Conductors serve free of charge in clinics at the Russian Railways.

If you have the desire and strength, you can "reach the rank" to the head of the train, shift and, in the end, the station.

There is also a gradation. The first link is an employee of local trains, then up the career ladder is a conductor long distance and corporate composition. If you have the will and strength, you can reach the rank” to the head of the train, the shift and, in the end, the station. And this is facilitated by the fact that there is no age limit in the profession. From 18 and ... if you have the desire and health, then you can work and reach a pension.

The conductors also have an interesting additional service. After the flights they go for a smile". This means a visit to a psychologist. There they teach to recognize different types of people, to identify the most conflicting, they teach how to behave properly with such personnel.

The conductor's profession is not always monotonous trips between cities. Two thousand workers in this area have already completed additional training courses before the start June 14 in Russia football world championship. We are about it. And who would not be interested in talking with fans from Panama, Australia or Costa Rica? Yes, and during not one feast, but a whole many-hour trip? Here you can’t even guess how such an acquaintance could end.

P. S. We contacted the main characters of the material and in the near future we will try to write about them in more detail.

Maxim Yaroshevsky

A train in Russia is more than just a means of transportation. Due to the size of the country and the hyper-centralized rail network, even a short distance becomes a long journey, where the reserved seat becomes your home - with slippers, homemade food and good (or lucky) neighbors. It seems that with the construction, which has been talked about for the last 10 years, all this will be a thing of the past. But until the high-speed future has come and the conductors remain the owners of the railway. As part of the "Insider" column, "Inde" asked the former conductor of a passenger train about the behind the scenes of the profession.

Start: student brigade and Moscow reserve of guides

I studied at KFU in the humanities. He participated in the activities of student teams (these are the successors of the Soviet system of construction teams) - along this line one could find some work for the summer. We called it whole. It was possible to go to the construction, pedagogical agricultural detachments, but I did not want to build the Vostochny cosmodrome, or be a leader in the camp, or pick tomatoes in the Crimea. I chose the job as a conductor purposefully and went there right after the first year - I liked the prospect of communicating with people and changing the situation. For three full summers and two winter holidays on the train, I visited Murmansk, Arkhangelsk, Smolensk, Anapa, Sukhum (these are the extreme points of my travels). In general, additional conductors are required by Russian Railways precisely for the period of increased passenger load - that is, for summer and winter holidays. By the way, I met twice New Year on the train - not on the way, however, but during the daily stop in Smolensk. We walked around the city with colleagues, heated the car, set the table, listened to Putin on the radio.

“By the way, I met the New Year twice on the train - not on the way, however, but during the daily stop in Smolensk. We walked with colleagues around the city, heated the car, set the table, listened to Putin on the radio”

Before the first summer season, I was sent for a three-month training. It was conducted by an employee of a student organization, who himself worked as a conductor for five or six years. At school, they talk about everything - about labor protection, the arrangement of wagons, first aid and service rules. After the course, I went to get a job in the reserve of conductors passenger cars(conductors are listed as part of the “reserve” units, which, in turn, belong to certain depots) Moscow-Oktyabrskaya. I, a freshman with a heightened sense of social justice, did not like it there - we were given a job all day long, there were many students, they treated us rudely - everything looked like a queue at the military registration and enlistment office. At the same time, personnel guides came there on their own business, and the attitude towards them was incomparably better. As a result, I worked in the Moscow reserve for two summers, the rest of the time in St. Petersburg. In the summer, about 1,500 student conductors passed through the St. Petersburg reserve (because St. Petersburg has the largest wagon section in Russia, and trains leave from there in many directions).

First flight and professional life hacks

The first flight for everyone is a trainee flight, that is, a beginner travels with an experienced guide. Although if there are not enough conductors, they can immediately send them to an independent one. Trainee flights are always short-term, for a maximum of three days. My first was Moscow - Murmansk on the Arktika branded train. Then I had the main shock - on the very first day I saw all the dark behind the scenes of the conductor's work.

My mentor was an older and very enterprising woman who seemed to make money out of everything. Firstly, she traded "Chinese", that is, she sold dirty linen (I don’t know why it’s called that - probably due to the fact that everything Chinese is associated with poor quality). She took the linen after the passenger got off, checked it for obvious dirt and hair, put it in order a little, packed it in a bag, sealed the seams with a lighter and sold it as new. I knew about such stories, but I did not think that this could happen on a branded train. Later I learned that this practice is widespread; a conductor can earn about 10 thousand rubles for a long flight only on linen. My mentor also sold tea and groceries: you buy the same Greenfield in the store, which Russian Railways sells, and sell it at train prices (a tea bag is 45 rubles, that is, you beat off the price of the entire package by selling three bags). She also took money for smoking between cars and deceived drunk passengers - she sat down with them, chatted and handed them several lottery tickets. Even experienced conductors turn situations in which passengers flirt with them to their advantage: they persuade boyfriends to buy tea, chocolate, souvenirs, and so on. Men, wanting to show off in front of the object of sympathy, can buy the entire tray of sweets and give it to the conductor. It is clear that she will not eat it - she will take the money and put everything up for sale again. And the conductor in the "Arktika" transported "hares" - a reserved seat car in this direction is rarely full, so there are always places for free riders.

“She took the laundry after the passenger got off, checked it for obvious dirt and hair, put it in order a little, packed it in a bag, sealed the seams with a lighter and sold it as new. I knew about such stories, but I didn’t think that this could happen on a branded train. ”

All this, of course, is illegal and punishable by disciplinary action up to and including dismissal. But the practice has been established for a long time, and everyone just turns a blind eye to it. True, they say that now with the "hares" it has become much stricter. Compliance with the order and job descriptions is monitored by auditors. These are Russian Railways employees who board the train at certain stations and check how things are going on the train. Checks do not take place on every flight and, in theory, should be unexpected - so that no one has time to prepare. But in fact, the conductors know in advance where the auditor will sit down (usually these are large junction stations). As soon as he is on the train, the information is transmitted along the chain from car to car - while the auditor is with the neighbors, you can have time to hide some minor violations. They still don’t find serious ones, because the sphere is highly corrupt - the head of the train always has money brought by the conductors, and there is always a bribe and a table for the inspector there. As a result, the auditor will walk around the train (although sometimes the check is so nominal that it does without an inspection), make a couple of remarks for the mess, draw up several acts, but see nothing serious. Although “Chinese”, leftist tea products and “hares” are serious violations that entail dismissal without the right to reinstatement in railway transportation (even a switchman on the tracks will not be taken).

Salary and additional responsibilities

Payment for the work of the conductor - hourly. Three years ago, when I worked, they paid 76 rubles per hour (now it seems to be 86 rubles). At least over the summer, according to the conditions of the employer, I had to skate 450 hours - this is a completely doable task in two and a half months. For example, the flight Moscow - Anapa - Moscow - Murmansk - Moscow takes 10 days. You go with a partner, the shift is 12 hours, and in the end we got 110 hours for him. The base salary is small, but there are bonuses for night work and trips to the Far North, bonuses for record sales of tea products, souvenirs and other things. It seems that 76 rubles per hour is not enough, but the maximum that I received over the summer was 120 thousand rubles. For a student, this is a very decent amount. Last year I received 70 thousand rubles - the crisis affected. In that year, all the conductors complained that they were underpaid, underestimated hours of work and cut everything if possible. In addition, it was in the St. Petersburg reserve, where a complete mess always reigned, therefore, having received my money, I did not begin to find out anything - it was more expensive for myself.

Selling souvenirs and related products on the train is a separate duty of the conductor. The required sales volumes are not specified anywhere (although the conductors say that there are standards in the internal documents of Russian Railways) - they are set by the head of the train. For the flight, we had to sell seven lottery tickets to Russian Railways. The norm of the amount for a souvenir and tea products is calculated according to the formula 20-30 rubles per passenger, that is, the conductor must pay the head of the train 5000-7000 rubles from the car. As a rule, I succeeded. No one takes back unsold goods, so the conductors reimburse the remaining amount from their own pocket. Because of this system, ridiculous precedents arise, such as the “boiling water tax”, which is taken exclusively from foreigners. Foreigners do not buy anything on the train: they either have everything with them, or they simply do not eat it. But everyone drinks tea and coffee, so in pursuit of profit and beautiful reports, some conductors charge foreign passengers an average of 50 rubles per glass of water. They say that the Chinese have long taken such a tribute as a given and resignedly hand over money for free boiling water.

We also reimburse the cost of underwear stolen by passengers (1,500 rubles per set) and coasters (about 2,000 rubles per piece) from our own pocket. And according to the instructions, the conductor must pay the cost of the passenger's journey to his station if he forgot to drop him off. But this has never happened to me.

Safety and old rolling stock

Conductors are the nerve of the whole squad. We are the first to record violations and emergencies, and then report them to the staff car (in addition to the compartment of the head of the train, there is a room for employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, a room for storing linen and a radio station). Each car has a fire warning system, it works even when the train is stopped. But the automatic fire extinguishing system is installed only in the working compartment of the conductor, because there is an electrical panel. Fire in our trains is a very dangerous thing. The car burns to the ground in an average of seven minutes. The instruction in the event of an alarm is as follows: the conductor runs in the compartment where the signal comes from, sees if there is a fire (the system is very sensitive and even reacts to vaping). If this is really a fire, then the second conductor in the chain sends information to the staff car, the first one pulls the stop crane, puts out the fire with a fire extinguisher, and the second takes passengers out into the street from the back of the car (that is, from the opposite direction from the opposite direction).

The conductors also check the bearings, with the help of which the wagon bogie clings to the wheelset. If they overheat, the wagon could derail. At a stop lasting more than 15 minutes, we must check their temperature with the back of our hand - there are eight points with bearings on the car. In case of overheating while driving, the system notifies the conductor with a squeak. According to the instructions, in this case it is necessary to pull the stopcock, but no one does this. A stopcock is an extreme measure, after using it you need to fill out a bunch of papers, write a few explanatory notes, and if in the end it is established that there were no grounds for stopping the train, then you will be fired. Therefore, usually when I alerted the system, I called the train electrician. He, as a rule, grumbled that "in these old cars everything is always through the ass," and turned off the warning system.

There are a lot of old cars in Russian Railways. They say that the most dead trains are sent to the Urals and the South. But in fact, there is no such pattern - it all depends on the reserve that serves a particular direction. I have never worked on the Kazan reserve, but I know from rumors that we used to have good wagons and compositions, and then they all moved to the Moscow reserve and everything old remained in Kazan. Flights Kazan - Moscow are formed in Moscow from new cars, and for flights that are formed in Kazan, outdated equipment remains. For comparison: the Nizhny Novgorod reserve (for example, it forms the flight Kazan - St. Petersburg) is very good (so it cannot be said that only Muscovites are lucky).

“We used to manually scoop out the contents of the toilet to clear the blockage.”

Fortunately, there were no serious technical problems with the wagons in my life, except that the dry closet was clogged. Passengers manage to throw everything there, down to socks and rags. And once I had an argument with the car cleaner. He did a bad job - in some places after him it became even worse than it was. I did not sign the cleaning document, that is, I left him without earnings. As a result, he threw his sock into the dry closet, emptied himself there and completely spat on nine compartments.

The dry closets in the new carriages are automatic and can simply be reloaded. If this does not work, an electrician is called and he disassembles the device. There were times when we manually scooped out the contents of the toilet to clear the blockage. But the worst thing is that both bio- and ordinary toilets freeze in winter, so they need to be filled with boiling water every hour. In general, there are many holes in the car - these are sink drains, drains from titanium (boiling water apparatus). And they all need to be spilled hot.

Working in winter has its own specifics. You need to heat the wagon, and it's hard. All non-branded trains are still heated with coal, and you can be given very poor quality coal, which hardly burns. Coal is stored in the vestibule, in special pockets. 20-25 buckets are given per flight, but if the winter is cold, you may need twice as much. In winter, all guides walk around with black, chapped hands. But on the other hand, those who work on holidays have a higher salary: in two weeks you can get a monthly summer amount.

Passengers: bad, good, children

The conductor is the face of the company, we are the first and often the only representatives of Russian Railways that the passenger encounters. It is important to make a good impression even when landing - say hello, help with things; then, at the beginning of the flight, walk along the train and talk politely to everyone. My experience tells me: the conductor gives all the best in the first two hours of the flight, then the impression that you made works for you.

I singled out several types of passengers for myself: young people under 30 years old (you can always negotiate with them), grandmothers (they behave with you the same way you treat them), redneck men (it’s difficult with them: they smoke, drink, do not listen and swear), families (as a rule, closed in on themselves). I do not like those who impose themselves as friends and sit on their ears. They can come for tea and be stuck at your compartment for an hour - and you can't send it. At the same time, most often they count on some privileges (as a rule, on permission to smoke). Some - especially girls - almost sit down in the service compartment to chat, although this is forbidden.

I usually took the approach: smoke and drink, but don't disturb others. Allowed to smoke in the vestibule during the minute stops. But people tend to abuse trust. Once I had a conflict with two bullies: one ran all the time to smoke, I made comments to him, even threatened with the head of the train; then a second one came up, began to threaten and shoot me on the phone. Then I saw that my business card had disappeared from the door of my compartment, and tea products had disappeared from the table. Of course, we called the police, but then it turned out that the bullies themselves were from the authorities, and nothing was done to them. It still hurts to this day to be so rude. True, the badge was returned to me.

One summer, on a flight to Sukhum, one man actively made friends with me. He wrote me a letter of gratitude in the book of reviews and suggestions, bought tea products for a good amount and, of course, drank a lot (but did not rage). In the south, there is a five-hour sanitary zone along the sea and hourly control on the border of Abkhazia and Russia - I warned everyone in advance so that people had time to go to the toilet. The man was sleeping at that time and woke up already during the inspection of the train by the border guards. He asked to use the toilet, but I could not help him. Then he found a five-liter bottle, did all his business there (everything happened quite loudly in the vestibule - the passengers understood what was happening) and returned to the place exactly at the entrance to the car of the border guards. When the train started moving, my partner freaked out and said that we should not clean up after him - let him take everything that is his with him. To my surprise, the man readily agreed. So he left in Gagra, holding out his hand with a bag in which we hid his bottle.

I have always tried to keep my distance from passengers, but travel romances for two or three days are a common practice. Often this happens to young female conductors, especially when they see beautiful broad-shouldered demobilized. Once I was carrying a wagon of demobilizations. They thumped soundly all the way - I don’t even know how it is possible to have time to start a romance in this situation. My task was reduced to the role of an educator - to collect bottles in time, to make sure that no one started to puke and go under themselves, in extreme cases, take them to the toilet and push passengers at the right stops with things (which was not easy: they didn’t want to leave such fun) . It was also difficult to transport cadets of one secret power structure - the car was empty, they occupied two compartments and drank hard all the way and yelled Allegrova's songs. They littered the whole car!

But worst of all are the children who go south. Adult escorts do not care about them, so they are left to their own devices. After them, a lot of garbage in the most unexpected places - on the third shelf, under the pillowcase of the mattress and pillows, in the luggage compartment. And once the children's group all at once decided to wash their hair in the toilet and used up the entire supply of water in the car. It takes eight hours to get to the nearest “gas station”, and there is no water anywhere: empty titanium, empty toilets and sinks. So we drove - the whole car had to run to the next one.

One day, a 14-year-old boy from an orphanage went out to the store in the parking lot for vodka. He was raked in by the cops, and the escorts came to their senses only after two hours. He was put in a catch-up train, and we had to drive slowly, behind schedule. We picked him up a couple of hours later. But this happens infrequently. A lagging passenger is a big paper job. According to the instructions, the conductor with two witnesses must describe his property and hand it over to the head of the train. Then either the passenger catches up with the train, or at the next station we give his things to the on-duty assistant to the head of the station.

The secret life of the conductor and the secrets of the dining car

Russian Railways does not allocate money for food to conductors - they buy everything themselves. Usually, my partners and I went to some Auchan before the flight, and sometimes passengers leave their food. Unless it's something suspicious or perishable, we accept. We take food that does not need to be cooked. Although on titanium this is quite real: you put a small saucepan with porridge, potatoes, sausages or chicken on top (there is a convenient niche) and wait. True, it will take a long time to prepare, up to 12 hours. But we have a refrigerator and a microwave - by the way, passengers can also use them.

At night, the conductor does not have much work - you read a book or a newspaper forgotten by the passenger. At stops, according to the instructions, it is forbidden to get out of the car, but at long stops we still walked around the city. For example, there is Olenegorsk station in front of Murmansk, where two-thirds of the passengers get off. Already there you start cleaning, so that there is not much to do at the final station. And in Murmansk you go out into the city: to a shop, to a cafe, to buy souvenirs or even go to a museum. Although in general there is nothing to do there at all, and in five or six hours of parking you have time to inspect everything.

Guides are most often lonely people working for slaughter. From flight to flight without days off. Their whole life is a railway, there are all their social connections, all the benefits and tricks. 60 percent of conductors are drunken people. Once I was transferred to another train, because the conductor who was supposed to get on the flight came absolutely drunk. They also drink on the flight. By the way, conductors lag behind the train much more often than passengers (either they stay in the store, or they smoke for a long time). In this case, they are simply taken to the place on another train. They can even arrive earlier than their team - for example, if they board the Sapsan. However, I also met guides by vocation who worked wholeheartedly and honestly. These are, as a rule, adult women of 45-50 years old: they dispose to themselves, everything is neat, clean, and they themselves are kind. There are whole dynasties of conductors on the railway - husband and wife, mother and daughter. On one train, the head of the train was a woman whose husband worked there as an electrician, and her daughter as a conductor. They also took their dog with them.

Now I have an office job, but I constantly watch the conductors from the side. In general, in my experience, the worst passengers are personnel conductors. They cling to the staff, grumble, make endless remarks (“why didn’t they wash the floor”, “why is it so dusty”, “turn off the light already”, “open the toilet”, and so on), they can even write a complaint - in general, they try by all means humiliate you and assert yourself. But in reality, not a single conductor works, as prescribed in the instructions - jambs can be found in everyone. I make comments only if the conductor behaves rudely and tactlessly. And I also somehow got a “Chinese” (it can be distinguished by the uneven seam of the bag and the smell, but the main sign is the absence of a piece of paper with a list of a set of linen in the package). I approached the conductor and explained that I myself worked in the system and I know all their tricks. She, of course, turned blue, but immediately apologized and changed the kit.

I miss the train and I would like to return to the conductors for at least a month. But all the same, this work was perceived as student work - temporary, for the summer. Plus, I didn't get paid much last season. Over the summer, the entire composition becomes your family. As a rule, in the summer, career conductors sit at the head and tail of the train, and in the staff car - students in the rest of the staff. With many of those whom I met at that work, we are still friends. The coolest thing is to get together at night with one of the conductors in a compartment, drink tea and poison stories about passengers. You eat and enjoy.

Every time we go on a business trip, travel, visit relatives or friends, we use the services of companies that carry out Passenger Transportation. One of the most popular is the Russian Railways company, since train travel is the most budget option. Such trips are usually long-term and take several days, but how much romance is in each of them!

On the way, passengers must be accompanied by conductors, who, contrary to the opinion of many people, have a huge responsibility for everyone who rides in the car. However, there are many benefits to this profession. Reconomica talked to an experienced conductor of a passenger car and in this article tells the story of Stella, who described in detail her entire path in the profession from the beginning to the present day.

Profession PPV

Hello, my name is Ivasyuk Stella Semyonovna, I am 28 years old, I am a conductor of a passenger car. My place of work is a passenger car depot in Khabarovsk, LVChD -1. My work experience is 5 years.

The conductor of a passenger car is a very responsible and difficult profession. It contains a whole combination of skills. I have to be a sociable person, vigilant along the way and, in addition, a subtle psychologist who can find a common language with different categories of people.

It often seems to an ordinary passenger that our business is small - to check a ticket, bring a bed and offer hot tea. But in fact, the duties of the conductor include a lot of other concerns besides the generally accepted servants.

Throughout the entire journey, you need to listen to your car, each wheel pair, in order to identify a slider or a chip in time; monitor electrical equipment and water supply; timely heat titanium and monitor the water level in it; fill in the train log and prevent the passage of the station by the passenger; be responsible for breaking the stop crane and be ready at any time to become a signalman during an emergency stop of the train.

Khabarovsk.

Small start on a big journey

For those who wish to put on a railway uniform, I would like to advise you to look inside yourself and understand: could you clean up the waste of unscrupulous citizens (there are a lot of different cases)? Are you ready to restrain your emotions during inappropriate behavior of a passenger? Would you find a smile in response to a boorish appeal?

The profession itself is not as difficult as the difficulties that people cause.

And if you are still ready to join the ranks of the “wheeling country”, then the matter remains small. Education does not require huge costs, time and effort. I took PPV courses at the State University of Railway Transport (DVGUPS) in 3 months. In Russia, there are a lot of railway technical schools that provide this type of training on a paid basis. In total, no more than 30 thousand rubles came out.

Knowledge, of course, was also rammed into the head by the express method. It was necessary to learn a huge amount of material, starting with the basic provisions, the structure of the car (malfunctions, equipment, electrical equipment, heating system) and ending with a decent list of various fire extinguishers and train documentation.

Wheel sets are required to study.

Getting on the railroad

Finding a job in a specialty is not an easy task. Despite the huge staff turnover in this area, the employer does not seek to hire people without work experience.

Therefore, a little advice for those who nevertheless chose this track: when choosing PPV courses, focus on ensuring that subsequent employment is provided for.

This condition guarantees that after completing the course and passing all the exams, you will be provided with a job. But, as a rule, you can’t do without a small “but”. The medical commission is the root of evil and the rejection of personnel. Railway hospital paramedics are very big comedians who like to arrange various quests and runs from one floor to another. You must be willing to open every corner of your body, soul, and brain to them, usually more than once.

I would also like to add that all the costs of the medical examination will be returned to you in a short time. With regard to monetary relations, here the railway must be given its due. For five years of work with a delay in the payment of wages, I have not encountered.

Flight

Before sending on a long journey, the conductor needs to accept the shift. Together with the handing over brigade, my partner and I must count the entire inventory. Number of mattresses and pillows, buckets, brooms, scoops, and check the availability of all glasses, cup holders and spoons; inspect the boiler room and water supply system; accept tea products according to the invoice and a mountain of bags with clean linens; make sure that all train documentation and signal equipment (flags, flashlights, firecrackers) are available; check seals for integrity; supply the wagon with coal and water. All this must be done in a certain amount of time before sending the train to the station.

By the beginning of the boarding of passengers, you need to put your appearance in order and dress in the appropriate uniform.

On the way, through the expanses of Russia, I had a chance to see and experience a lot. The most frequent thing that I had to deal with was a drunken brawl. As a conductor of a reserved seat car, I have seen enough of such concerts. I am glad that most of the passengers are still normal, friendly people. In different cities of our country, thanks to the profession, acquaintances and friends appeared.

Respite before boarding.

Negative points

There have been quite sad cases in practice, for example, suicide. Some citizens, following the example of Anna Karenina, create a lot of problems. After an emergency stop of the train, as the conductor of the tail car, I have to walk a kilometer to install signal firecrackers on the rails. In the winter season, this is not the best activity. In addition, the delay of the train leads to indignation of passengers and a huge loss of funds for every minute of downtime. Also in the old type cars in the winter there is a sore problem - a toilet. Armed with a hot-water bottle with boiling water and a crowbar, I, shivering from the cold, beat off and warm up the ingenious invention at almost every major station in the frozen country. And this is not all the "charms" of our work.

On the railroad, there are five bosses for every worker, and each one pulls the blanket over himself. During a one-way trip, respected auditors visit at least four times.

Salary

The happiest moment in any job. Railway adequately pays for work and has no habit of delaying timely payments. The average income of the conductor fluctuates around 25 thousand. A lot depends on the season and the number of hours worked. It also matters what time of day you were on shift. Night hours are paid more. My partner and I divided the day in equal parts: from 3 am to 15 pm - my shift.

Northern allowances are paid depending on the area of ​​employment. Another very important role is played by the auditors: the shortcomings they found negatively affect the salary. Missing inventory will also be deducted from your total.

But for all the cons, there are pros. Russian Railways provides a full social package, additional payments at the birth of a child and free travel on railway transport, and once a year a free trip around Russia is provided for the whole family.

prospects

If you want to work and move up the career ladder, you have a good chance of becoming the head of the train. Higher education and work on different sections of railway communication are sufficient components for growth.

On average, 5 years is enough to leave the working compartment and move to the staff car.

The salary also gets a raise, as does the list of new responsibilities.

Romance or torment

In general, of course, the work has both its minuses and pluses. I consider it a good bonus to be able to see my country, the vastness of forests and rivers, the grandeur of cities and the variety of stations, meet interesting people and just plunge into the Russian Railways system.

Everyone chooses what he likes. As for me, the conductor of a passenger car is not a dream profession. Complexity and constant stress, frequent absence from home and, as a result, the absence of a family. All this is not the best way to affect health and mental balance. But if you are the opposite of my type of person, able to find a way out of different situations, enjoying sudden adventures, then this is your path. Feel free to jump into the car and move forward without regret.

The duties of a Russian Railways conductor working in passenger cars can, in fact, be briefly described - ensuring maximum passenger comfort throughout the trip. It may seem to someone that there are no difficulties in the conductor’s work: check tickets when boarding (and if we are talking about, then this is not required), give out bed linen, go through the car a couple of times a day, offering passengers tea and coffee, and all. In fact, this is not at all the case, and Russian Railways employees have a clearly defined and rather extensive list of functional duties related not only to serving passengers, but also to maintaining cleanliness and temperature conditions in the car, etc. So, what are the duties of the conductor of a passenger car along the route?

Duties of the conductor on the route: passenger service

Let's list the main duties of the conductor to the passengers. This is, first of all:

  • checking tickets and documents while boarding the train;
  • assistance to passengers when boarding / disembarking from the car;
  • issuance of bedding and their collection no earlier than 30 minutes before arrival at the station;
  • sale of tea, coffee, confectionery, etc. The conductor must pass through the carriage at least three times a day and offer the above goods to passengers. Also, tea, coffee, and everything else can be bought at any time of the day, and the employee of the car is obliged to bring the order to the passenger seat;
  • providing passengers (upon request) with such things as brushes for clothes and shoes, board games (chess, checkers);
  • providing the ability to charge a mobile phone;
  • provision of hot and cold (drinking) water;
  • calling a waiter from the dining car to take an order for food from a passenger;
  • maintaining silence and public order in the car at night - from 23.00 to 6.00;
  • Wake-up of passengers at least 30 minutes before their arrival at the station.

We are all used to the fact that the bed on the trains needs to be made by ourselves. In fact, the conductor, at the request of the passenger, is obliged to assist him in spreading bed linen, serving primarily the elderly, the disabled, passengers with small children.

Duties of a train conductor

In addition to serving passengers, the conductor must constantly monitor the condition of the car and vestibules, namely:

  • around the clock to maintain in titanium the temperature necessary for the water in it to be hot;
  • carry out dry and wet cleaning in the car at least once every 12 hours;
  • clean toilets and vestibules at least once every 6 hours;
  • every hour or at the request of passengers, check and, if necessary, replenish the used hygiene products in the toilets: toilet paper, soap, paper towels;
  • collect and take out garbage at technical stations;
  • before arriving at each station, wipe the handrails in the vestibule;
  • monitor the cleanliness of the plates with the number and route of the car, which are located outside (wipe them at the stations as necessary).

In winter, the duties of the conductors of passenger cars are supplemented by the following items:

  • maintaining an optimal temperature regime in the car;
  • regular cleaning of snow and ice vestibules;
  • washing with boiling water (for the purpose of defrosting) drains of toilet bowls and wash basins;
  • removal of ice from the filling pipe (before each filling of water), running gear of the car.

Liability of conductors

If it still seems to you that it is not difficult to work as a conductor, then you should find out about the liability of wagon workers. The conductors on the flight are responsible for the safety of all property in the carriages: bedding, dishes, number plates. Damage to any surfaces (seats, curtains, windows) and interior items (shelves, mirrors, etc.) is also compensated at the expense of the conductor's salary. Therefore, do not be offended if the carriage conductor does not have time to immediately fulfill your requirements, perhaps at the moment he simply does not have enough time for this.

The Village continues to find out how the personal budget of representatives of different professions works. In the new issue - the conductor of a passenger car. The work of a conductor seems romantic to many - long-distance trains, different cities and casual interlocutors. It is 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 hard enough, 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 job, how much he earns and what he spends money on.

Profession

Conductor

average salary

22 000 rubles

Spending last month

7 000 rubles

half apartment rental in Novosibirsk

2 000 rubles

temporary registration

500 rubles

phone payment

6 000 rubles

products

2 000 rubles

souvenirs

2 000 rubles

500 rubles

transport

2 000 rubles

accumulation

How to become a conductor

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

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

Features of work

The conductor must be able and aware of everything: to seat a passenger, give him a set of linen, write it down on a strict accountability form, warn him 40 minutes before his departure, drop him off. Keep the cabin clean: clean the car at least twice per trip, and at least four times in the toilet. It's like a Sims game where the characters have an indicator: if it's green, then everyone is happy. So did the passengers: I almost followed them, and immediately became dissatisfied.

The conductor has many professions - for example, a loader, a waiter, a psychologist. Big fat bags with dirty linen should be dragged to your compartment. You need to walk with a tray and tell passengers that there are tea products and souvenirs on sale. You also need to be a little encyclopedic - at each station, passengers ask: "What area are we in?" or “And what river flows here?”, “And 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 is hard for them. Many passengers come up to me themselves and ask about the work - whether they like it or not. In general, we cannot criticize our work, but I answer as it is, that I receive little and that you would not wish to work as a guide to the 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 the passengers did not have time to board the station, and only their 14-year-old son remained in the car. 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 in a taxi, gave 5 thousand rubles. And on our last trip between the stations, a locomotive caught fire, the driver made an emergency brake, 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 brigade would have lost the bonus.

I prepare for the trip like this: the day before departure, I go to the store for shopping. It turns out about 3 thousand rubles, and so twice a month. The next day at the appointed time (8 hours before the train departure) I arrive at the park for a planning meeting. I have a suitcase, a bag and a large bag of food with me. At the planning meeting there is the head of the train, an instructor and conductors with whom I will go on a flight. The head of the train scatters us into the cars, usually in a pair of a boy and a girl. I work recently, and all partners are new to me. They also say in which class we will go - reserved seat, compartment or SV. I fell in love with the reserved seat, because all the passengers are in sight, I know who and where, and it’s easier to get out. Then we go to the wagons; happiness for me when I see that the car is new. We accept the wagon - we count the inventory, we get cleaning products, garbage bags, soap, paper and goods that will go on sale. And the team does not have to do it again, sometimes people have more swear words in stock than usual.

Then the head of the trip goes around the train, checks if everything is in order. We arrive at the station in an hour, and boarding begins in 30 minutes. 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, rebuilding according to local time. The big minus is that you eat very little on the road, a lot of unhealthy food, and I lose weight (well, women - on the contrary).

The one-way trip takes four days. The climate, time zone and passengers are changing. On the last day of the journey, the guides make a report and clean up. Upon arrival, we go to the shower, to the grocery store, sometimes souvenirs, and on the same day we leave back with new passengers. But they must not see our weariness. Upon arrival, we also do not sleep for a day: after all the passengers leave, 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 come home at 15:45, if I'm lucky. All this time is not paid, only the travel time is paid.

It is also necessary to hand over the linen of passengers, the shortage is also deducted from the salary. Then we go to the raters, they appoint the next flight, name the date and direction. In a special regime (in 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 eight days of a trip, seven to nine days of rest.

Salary and expenses

It was impossible to relax in the summer: you sleep off for two days, the next day you go to the store, and then on a trip. Now I have more rest, but fewer hours, therefore, the salary is lower accordingly. Salary depends on the time spent on the road. In a good month, I get 34 thousand rubles, in an unsuccessful one - 14-17 thousand rubles. The average is 22 thousand rubles. In August, I dashed off 222 hours - this is 16,198 rubles plus a 20% coefficient and an advance payment for the previous month - 7,700 rubles. This amount does not suit me. I want to move to Moscow and become a subway driver.

My mother and I rent an apartment, and I pay half - 7 thousand rubles. I spend 6 thousand rubles on food for the trip. I also eat fast food, and when we arrive in a city, I buy souvenirs there. There is no way to go to sections and the gym, and you can forget about healthy eating. Another expense is transportation (500 rubles) and phone bills. After that, there is almost no money left. Last month I paid a lot of money for temporary registration. And the rest I save up for something good, for the same clothes I have to give at least 5 thousand rubles.