Avanti Trainee Train Driver 2026: Stages, Tests, CBI Interview and Pay

To become an Avanti West Coast trainee train driver, you apply when a campaign opens, then pass five stages: an application, an online sift and online tests by The OPC, two OPC assessment centre stages (paper tests including the Group Bourdon, then computer tests and a competency-based interview), and a final Driver Manager Interview. Avanti's March 2026 Euston advert paid £47,100 from the start of training.

Checked on 27 October 2026 against Avanti West Coast's own recruitment page and adverts, and RSSB's FAQ on the selection standard. Our own advice is labelled as ours. ProSyllabus is an independent study site. It is not part of RSSB, the Office of Rail and Road, The OPC or any train company, and nothing here is official test material.

Is Avanti recruiting now? No Trainee Train Driver advert was open on Avanti's careers site on 27 Oct 2026. Avanti's recruitment page asks you to register your interest so it can email you when it next recruits trainee drivers. The most recent trainee advert we found was for its Euston talent pool, posted 6 March 2026 and now marked expired. It warned that Avanti may close an advert early if it gets a strong response, so preparing before the next campaign opens matters.

Avanti's recruitment page names two main requirements: your age at the point of applying, and living within 1 hour of a depot. Its adverts add the rest. The age is the one point where its pages differ, so here is each with its date:

Read the age in the advert you apply to: the newest advert asks for 20, the older page for 20 and a half. The law itself allows a train driving licence from 18 since 30 June 2026, but a company can set a higher age of its own; the change is explained in our guide to becoming a train driver in the UK.

Avanti publishes its trainee driver process, including which tests sit at which stage. The OPC runs stages 1.5 to 4; Avanti runs the application and the final interview.

Nothing to prepare, but two things to check before you apply: that your home is within an hour of the depot in the advert, and how many attempts you have used (next section). The sift checks both.

The OPC questionnaire looks at your interest in the role and why you want to be a train driver, Avanti says. Then come two online assessments:

Our advice: answer the questionnaire in your own words about the job as Avanti describes it (shifts, long periods alone, constant learning, respect for the rules), not about trains in general. For the situational judgement test, use the seven competencies Avanti names as your guide: in each scenario, look for the safest, most rule-respecting response that still looks after customers and colleagues.

Each test has its own guide: Group Bourdon practice, the TEA-Occ test, and the TRP tests in our guide to every psychometric test. RSSB says you will be given approved practice materials at least a week before your assessment, and to contact the train company if you have not received them; work through them first. Attention is the part you can train most directly, in short timed sessions: our 11 techniques for the Group Bourdon cover pacing and checking.

Avanti says the Vienna tests at this stage focus on vigilance and reaction. Our advice: what you can train for them is staying alert on a dull, repetitive task for a long stretch. The same face-to-face stage includes Avanti's competency-based interview (CBI). What happens across the whole day, from arrival to results, is in our assessment day guide.

Avanti lists a competency-based interview (CBI) at stage 4 of its own process. Avanti does not publish its CBI questions or marking. A competency-based interview asks you for real examples of what you have done; in our view, the seven competencies Avanti names for its situational judgement test and the qualities on its recruitment page (disciplined, customer focused, a healthy respect for the rules, a strong commitment to punctual services) are the best public guide to what it looks for.

Questions of this kind, grouped by those competencies (our own examples, not Avanti's questions):

Stage 5, the Driver Manager Interview, is hosted by Avanti with its driver management team; pass it, Avanti says, and you enter the talent bank. Our advice: expect questions about Avanti itself and the job. Know its routes and stations, the depot in your advert, what the shift pattern means for your home life, and why you chose Avanti rather than another company.

This is the most important paragraph on Avanti's page, and it is easy to miss. Avanti says that for the trainee driver process, individuals have two lifetime attempts: if they fail any stage more than twice, they cannot reapply, and these attempts count across every train operator. It also says Avanti and several other operators use an enhanced standard on the assessments, above the national standard. If you pass to the national standard but not to Avanti's, you use up an Avanti attempt but not an attempt with operators that use the national standard.

The national attempt rules, a date checker and a 12-month plan are in our guide to train driver retakes and pass rates.

Avanti recruits trainee drivers by depot, and each advert names one. The adverts we read were for London Euston (posted 6 March 2026) and Holyhead (posted 19 September 2025). Check the depot in the advert before you apply, because the 60-minute rule is measured to that depot.

Passing does not mean starting straight away. The Euston advert says successful applicants are placed in a talent bank and offered a role as and when one arises, and the recruitment page says that a pass at the Driver Manager Interview puts you in the talent bank.

The Euston advert describes a structured two-year programme at the London Euston depot to become a fully qualified train driver, starting with up to 16 weeks of classroom training that combines academic learning with hands-on practical instruction. The Holyhead advert says training takes up to two years and can be intense. A trainee driver quoted on Avanti's page describes the 16-week classroom course with regular assessments, reviews, workbooks and logbooks, then the practical side of learning to drive with instructors and mentors.

Avanti puts the salary in each advert. These are its own figures, with the date each advert was posted:

The adverts also list a defined benefit pension scheme, free travel on the Avanti West Coast network for you and your family, and discounted travel with other train companies. The qualified driver advert lists 30 days' holiday, rising by 1 for each completed year of service to a maximum of 37, including bank holidays.

The facts in each row are from Avanti's pages and RSSB's FAQ; the timing and the practice routine are ProSyllabus advice. A 14-day practice plan for the attention tests is in our Group Bourdon practice guide.

Every test in the standard is explained in our hub guide to the UK train driver psychometric tests. Our guides on this assessment are collected on the UK train driver exam page.