Northern Trainee Train Driver 2026: Requirements, Stages, Pay, How to Pass

Northern trains its own drivers on a paid apprenticeship: you apply to a trainee train driver advert for one depot, then pass an online assessment, the RSSB psychometric tests at Northern's assessment centre in Leeds (to an enhanced level), a hiring manager assessment day and a medical. Its Manchester advert of 20 October 2026 pays £27,870 a year in training, rising to £53,190 in year 1 and £67,104 in year 3.

Checked on 27 October 2026 against Northern's own adverts on its recruitment site, its train driver careers page and RSSB's FAQ on the selection standard. Where Northern's careers page and its October advert differ, we say so: follow the advert you apply to. 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.

Northern's Manchester advert lists the criteria you must meet, or your application is rejected automatically (the first seven rows below); the last two rows are from its careers page and the rest of the advert:

Northern also says it does not accept AI applications, and that any suspected use of AI as part of an application means immediate rejection. As a Level 2 Disability Confident employer, it offers an interview to disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria, and its talent team can make reasonable adjustments to the process.

Northern's Manchester advert describes the steps after you apply. It warns that the whole process takes about six months, and that you may hear nothing for 8 to 12 weeks after applying because of the volume of applications; Northern asks you not to chase before 12 weeks have passed.

Northern's careers page lists the stages in a different order: an interview with the Driver Management Team in Leeds, with competency-based questions, comes before the psychometric assessments, and there is no separate online assessment. The two differ, so follow the advert you apply to, and expect an interview at some point either way. The medical checks general health, vision and hearing, and includes a drug and alcohol screen.

Northern's careers page says the psychometric assessments have three parts: paper tests, computer tests and a multimodal interview. Its assessors are members of the British Psychological Society and are registered with the Office of Rail and Road to carry out train driver assessments, and Northern offers its psychometric assessment services to other train companies. The tests themselves are set by RSSB's standard RIS-3751-TOM; RSSB's FAQ lists them by what each assesses:

Four RSSB rules matter before you sit them: pass marks are recommended by RSSB and chosen by each company (Northern asks for an enhanced level); the company sends approved practice materials at least a week before your assessment; results from assessments since 7 December 2024 last five years; and RSSB recommends finishing one application before starting another, because one result affects all your applications. The attempt rules and waiting times are in our guide to retakes and pass rates, and the order of a typical day in what happens on the assessment day.

The Group Bourdon assesses attention. Our trainer practises the same ability with its own task: on each timed sheet, mark every group of exactly four dots and nothing else. Here is one worked example of eight groups, with the three outcomes the trainer counts:

Northern's Manchester advert describes the course as an in-house trainee driver course, delivered as part of a 2-year apprenticeship programme:

The careers page describes it differently: 64 weeks of training, starting with an intensive three-month period on safety, operations and driver responsibilities, split between the Manchester or Leeds academies and practical training at your local depot. The two differ; the course you are offered will say which applies.

Pay is set per advert and differs by depot. These are the figures in Northern's own adverts, a year at a time:

Both adverts describe a rolling 35-hour week with evenings, nights and weekends; the Manchester advert gives example shifts of 03:00 to 10:30, 07:00 to 16:30, 15:30 to 00:30 and 18:00 to 02:30. The benefits it lists include unlimited free travel on Northern for you, your partner and dependants, a 75% discount on other networks in the UK and Europe, a pension where Northern tops up your contributions by 1.5 times, and 9 months of full maternity pay.

Northern recruits trainee drivers by location: each advert names where you would work, and you must live within a 45-minute car journey of the station you work from. The three adverts we read were for two places: Manchester (Manchester Piccadilly in one advert, Manchester Victoria or Piccadilly, assigned on depot requirements, in another) and Hull. Check Northern's recruitment site for an advert at the depot nearest you.

Course dates come with each advert. The Manchester advert of 20 October 2026 offers courses in January and February 2027, with assessments in November and December 2026; another Manchester advert offered November 2026 and dates from January to May 2027. Northern does not describe a talent pool in the pages we read: its advert says a conditional offer depends on an available training course place and on passing the medical. It also reserves the right to close an advert before its closing date if it receives many applications, so apply early in a campaign.

More guides on this assessment are on the UK train driver exam page.