About 8,000 people have applied for 100 train driver jobs on Scotland's railways in just one week.
ScotRail is recruiting trainee train drivers for depots including Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Gourock, Inverness, Perth and Stirling.
During their first year of training, they will be paid £24,559, which will gradually rise to £43,212 following a probationary period.
The company launched the recruitment drive as part of its plans to expand timetables and roll out faster, bigger and greener trains.
Applications opened last Thursday and close next Wednesday.
Phil Verster, managing director of the ScotRail Alliance, said: "These new roles present a great opportunity for those looking to embark on an exciting new career in the railway.
"Supporting the people of Scotland and the country's economy is very important to us.
"Our staff are our biggest asset and we're looking forward to welcoming a further batch of driver recruits to ScotRail."
ScotRail said it wants to hear from enthusiastic, reliable candidates with "excellent attention spans, experience of safety-critical roles and a passion for customer service".
After the initial sift, successful applicants undertake the first part of a psychometric test, followed by an interview.
Those selected then undergo the second part of the psychometric test, followed by a medical exam.
New recruits will be put on a one-year training programme which consists of a mix of classroom-based learning, route learning and at least 265 hours of supervised driving.
Following training, drivers have a three-week period of driving exams and will be issued with a train driving licence if they pass.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel