Assistant locomotive driver. From personal experience. Occupation assistant driver Occupation assistant locomotive driver

Departing from the railway station on a trip, each time we are amazed at the strength and power of the machine, which drives a huge train consisting of several cars. Of course, such a device is difficult to manage, and it is simply impossible to cope with it alone. That is why trains, as a rule, are controlled by two specialists at once: the driver and his assistant.

Departing from the railway station on a trip, each time we are amazed at the strength and power of the machine, which drives a huge train consisting of several cars. Of course, such a device is difficult to manage, and it is simply impossible to cope with it alone. That is why trains, as a rule, are controlled by two specialists at once: the driver and his assistant. In other words, there is no need to worry about safety when boarding the train: two professionals will take you to your destination quickly and on time.

You might well ask yourself: since modern trains almost completely automated, why is it needed today assistant driver profession? Is it really impossible for the driver himself to cope with the control of a computerized locomotive? No, he can not! The fact is that quite often in the process of driving a train there is a need to perform several tasks at once. technical operations in places far from each other. In addition, the work of the driver has a number of features that make it possible to rank this profession as very difficult and dangerous, so the assistant driver often performs the function of "insurance" in case the driver loses his ability to work on the way.

What is an assistant driver?


A railway transport employee who is part of the locomotive brigade. The place of work of this specialist is all types of trains of different messages and purposes (freight, passenger, electric trains, etc.).

The name of the profession comes from the Latin word māchina (tool, device, mechanism). That is, the name itself directly indicates that we are talking about a specialist who helps to control the mechanism. It is interesting that initially those who controlled any mechanism were simply called "mechanic", and only later did the redistribution of the duties of specialists take place: a person who understands the principles of the mechanism's operation began to be called a mechanic, and a driver - a professional who controls the mechanism. This profession arose relatively recently, namely when the first steam locomotives appeared. In Russia, this happened in the middle of the century before last.

What does an assistant driver do? First of all, it must be said that the assistant driver is not just an understudy of the main manager of a diesel locomotive or electric locomotive. He has his own, very important role and his place in the cab, and a lot depends on the activity of the assistant driver. Assistant driver job assumes employment in all cycles of the trip: before, during the journey and after:

  • before the trip, the assistant driver must inspect the locomotive and check its technical condition, identify possible malfunctions. He must also check the adhesion of the locomotive to the rolling stock;
  • during the trip, the assistant driver controls the light and sound signals on the track and reports them to the driver, ensures radio communication and its excellent condition (and this is very important and directly ensures the safety of passengers, as it connects the crew of the car with dispatchers). It also monitors all indications of instruments and sensors and, if necessary, warns the driver about malfunctions. In addition, this specialist must inform the driver where and when to increase or decrease the speed of the locomotive;
  • after the trip, the assistant inspects the locomotive, unhooks it from the rolling stock and, together with the driver, takes it to the sidings.

To summarize, we can conclude: driver's assistant job is reduced to ensuring the safety of passengers in transport, the serviceability of the rolling stock and the acquisition of experience and professional skills that will subsequently help the specialist to independently operate the locomotive.

What personal qualities should an assistant driver have?


Insofar as professional duties assistant driver not much different from the activities of a person responsible for driving a locomotive, the personal qualities of this specialist, first of all, should include responsibility and discipline. In addition, the most important requirements for an assistant driver are:

  • good reaction;
  • attentiveness;
  • caution;
  • discretion;
  • endurance;
  • good visual memory;
  • the ability to quickly switch attention;
  • stress resistance;
  • visual acuity and hearing;
  • high coordination of movement;
  • propensity to work with technology.

The driver's assistant is a profession in which people who have not received special education cannot work. You need to know a lot: the features of the train, the operation of the locomotive, ways of communication, as well as to know thoroughly specifications trains, be able to read readings from complex instruments and control the normal operation of the locomotive.

Benefits of being an assistant driver

Main the advantage of being an assistant the driver is in high demand. Despite the active development of air and sea water transport, Railway in Russia is still the main means of transportation and transportation of goods. Therefore, the need for such specialists will only increase in the coming years.

Another advantage of this profession is the fact that the work of the locomotive crew is highly paid. The risks in the profession are very high, and the pay should be decent - today, specialists directly involved in the management of the train, on average, receive about 40-50 thousand rubles.

You can't be silent about great opportunities career growth. Not only that, after several years successful work an assistant driver can become a driver or move to the position of a foreman or head of a section in a depot. In the long term, in this profession, there is no upper career ceiling at all - you can even become the Minister of Railways.

Since technology is constantly improving, the assistant driver must constantly develop his technical skills and gain new knowledge, and this is an excellent opportunity to increase his level of erudition and "train" the brain. In other words, a specialist in this field can safely consider himself an intellectually developed person who understands the latest achievements of science and technology.

And lastly, there are increased health requirements for the employees of the locomotive crew (the health status of both the driver and his assistant is monitored before each trip), so representatives of this profession do not have to worry about the presence of any pathologies and chronic diseases.

Disadvantages of being an assistant driver

Disadvantages of being an assistant driver associated with harsh working conditions. Constant work in the closed space of the locomotive cab, strain on vision and hearing, vibration, noise, road dust - all this accompanies the locomotive crew throughout the working day. This does not exclude a high degree of fatigue at the end of the working day, and the driver's assistant is simply obliged to have a good rest, which is not always possible. Otherwise, fatigue accumulates, which can lead to irreversible consequences.

It is also worth noting the assistant driver - this is a profession with high risk for the life and health of a specialist. Disasters in transport, unfortunately, are not uncommon. Therefore, it cannot be argued that this profession is absolutely safe. At the same time, it is necessary to take into account the purely psychological disadvantage of the profession - a high degree of responsibility for the safety and life of people, which leads to increased anxiety.

Departing from the railway station on a trip, each time we are amazed at the strength and power of the machine, which drives a huge train consisting of several cars. Of course, such a device is difficult to manage, and it is simply impossible to cope with it alone. That is why trains, as a rule, are controlled by two specialists at once: the driver and his assistant.

Departing from the railway station on a trip, each time we are amazed at the strength and power of the machine, which drives a huge train consisting of several cars. Of course, such a device is difficult to manage, and it is simply impossible to cope with it alone. That is why trains, as a rule, are controlled by two specialists at once: the driver and his assistant. In other words, there is no need to worry about safety when boarding the train: two professionals will take you to your destination quickly and on time.

You may have a completely logical question: since modern trains are almost completely automated, why is it necessary today assistant driver profession? Is it really impossible for the driver himself to cope with the control of a computerized locomotive? No, he can not! The fact is that quite often in the process of driving a train there is a need to perform several technical operations at once in places remote from each other. In addition, the work of the driver has a number of features that make it possible to rank this profession as very difficult and dangerous, so the assistant driver often performs the function of "insurance" in case the driver loses his ability to work on the way.

What is an assistant driver?


A railway transport employee who is part of the locomotive brigade. The place of work of this specialist is all types of trains of different messages and purposes (freight, passenger, electric trains, etc.).

The name of the profession comes from the Latin word māchina (tool, device, mechanism). That is, the name itself directly indicates that we are talking about a specialist who helps to control the mechanism. It is interesting that initially those who controlled any mechanism were simply called "mechanic", and only later did the redistribution of the duties of specialists take place: a person who understands the principles of the mechanism's operation began to be called a mechanic, and a driver - a professional who controls the mechanism. This profession arose relatively recently, namely when the first steam locomotives appeared. In Russia, this happened in the middle of the century before last.

What does an assistant driver do? First of all, it must be said that the assistant driver is not just an understudy of the main manager of a diesel locomotive or electric locomotive. He has his own, very important role and his place in the cab, and a lot depends on the activity of the assistant driver. Assistant driver job assumes employment in all cycles of the trip: before, during the journey and after:

  • before the trip, the assistant driver must inspect the locomotive and check its technical condition, identify possible malfunctions. He must also check the adhesion of the locomotive to the rolling stock;
  • during the trip, the assistant driver controls the light and sound signals on the track and reports them to the driver, ensures radio communication and its excellent condition (and this is very important and directly ensures the safety of passengers, as it connects the crew of the car with dispatchers). It also monitors all indications of instruments and sensors and, if necessary, warns the driver about malfunctions. In addition, this specialist must inform the driver where and when to increase or decrease the speed of the locomotive;
  • after the trip, the assistant inspects the locomotive, unhooks it from the rolling stock and, together with the driver, takes it to the sidings.

To summarize, we can conclude: driver's assistant job is reduced to ensuring the safety of passengers in transport, the serviceability of the rolling stock and the acquisition of experience and professional skills that will subsequently help the specialist to independently operate the locomotive.

What personal qualities should an assistant driver have?


Insofar as professional duties of an assistant driver not much different from the activities of a person responsible for driving a locomotive, the personal qualities of this specialist, first of all, should include responsibility and discipline. In addition, the most important requirements for an assistant driver are:

  • good reaction;
  • attentiveness;
  • caution;
  • discretion;
  • endurance;
  • good visual memory;
  • the ability to quickly switch attention;
  • stress resistance;
  • visual acuity and hearing;
  • high coordination of movement;
  • propensity to work with technology.

The driver's assistant is a profession in which people who have not received special education cannot work. You need to know a lot: the features of the train, the operation of the locomotive, the means of communication, as well as a thorough knowledge of the technical characteristics of the train, be able to read readings from complex instruments and control the normal operation of the locomotive.

Benefits of being an assistant driver

Main the advantage of being an assistant the driver is in high demand. Despite the active development of air and sea water transport, the railway in Russia is still the main means of transportation and transportation of goods. Therefore, the need for such specialists will only increase in the coming years.

Another advantage of this profession is the fact that the work of the locomotive crew is highly paid. The risks in the profession are very high, and the pay should be decent - today, specialists directly involved in the management of the train, on average, receive about 40-50 thousand rubles.

It is impossible to remain silent about the great opportunities for career growth. Not only that, after several years of successful work, an assistant machinist can become a machinist or move to the position of a foreman or head of a section in a depot. In the long term, in this profession, there is no upper career ceiling at all - you can even become the Minister of Railways.

Since technology is constantly improving, the assistant driver must constantly develop his technical skills and gain new knowledge, and this is an excellent opportunity to increase his level of erudition and "train" the brain. In other words, a specialist in this field can safely consider himself an intellectually developed person who understands the latest achievements of science and technology.

And lastly, there are increased health requirements for the employees of the locomotive crew (the health status of both the driver and his assistant is monitored before each trip), so representatives of this profession do not have to worry about the presence of any pathologies and chronic diseases.

Disadvantages of being an assistant driver

Disadvantages of being an assistant driver associated with harsh working conditions. Constant work in the closed space of the locomotive cab, strain on vision and hearing, vibration, noise, road dust - all this accompanies the locomotive crew throughout the working day. This does not exclude a high degree of fatigue at the end of the working day, and the driver's assistant is simply obliged to have a good rest, which is not always possible. Otherwise, fatigue accumulates, which can lead to irreversible consequences.

It is also worth noting the driver's assistant - this is a profession with a high risk to the life and health of a specialist. Disasters in transport, unfortunately, are not uncommon. Therefore, it cannot be argued that this profession is absolutely safe. At the same time, it is necessary to take into account the purely psychological disadvantage of the profession - a high degree of responsibility for the safety and life of people, which leads to increased anxiety.

Progress is relentlessly moving forward, transforming everything around, and the railway is no exception. Over the past decade, quite a few new models of trains have been released that can operate in semi-automatic mode. However, this did not change the fact that two people must manage the train: the driver and his assistant.

So, what is the profession of an assistant machinist? Is it hard to master? And what advantages and disadvantages does it have?

general information

The assistant driver of a diesel locomotive or electric locomotive is a position that is available in any railway brigade. Without the presence of this specialist, the train simply will not be released from the depot. Therefore, the assistant driver is an integral part of the work team.

However, not everyone can apply for this position. Which, in fact, is not surprising, because the duties of an assistant driver require the candidate to have certain personal qualities and professional skills.

What should be the driver's assistant?

First, let's look at what qualities this employee should have. After all, the specifics of this profession greatly limits the circle of potential candidates.

So, the main criteria for such a profession as an assistant driver are as follows:

  • A good memory in order to learn all the necessary information for the care of the train.
  • The severity of the reaction, because much depends on how quickly he notices changes in instrument readings or the approach of danger.
  • Responsibility, because the better he performs his work, the higher the safety of passengers and cargo.
  • Analytic mind. All operations will be associated with mechanized processes, which requires a certain view of things.
  • Long journeys and irregular shifts, taking place in constant pitching, affect health. Therefore, you need to have good endurance and stress resistance.

Where to get an education?

Assistant driver of an electric locomotive (diesel locomotive) is a profession that requires special education. Get it in a specialized technical school or college. You can find such an educational institution in many regional and regional centers of the country, while the selection conditions will be the same almost everywhere.

However, it should be noted that hundreds of applicants apply for this profession every year. Because of this, fierce competition arises, complicating the admission process.

Duties of an Assistant Driver

As mentioned earlier, the assistant driver should always give all the best and perform the duties entrusted to him with high quality. After all, not only the technical serviceability of the train mechanisms, but also the safety of passengers depends on this.

So, the main duties of the assistant driver:

  1. Checking all mechanisms and units of the locomotive before it is sent. If there are malfunctions or defects, he must rectify them himself or report possible problems railroad mechanic.
  2. During the movement of the train, the assistant must monitor the readings of the instruments, respond to the dispatcher's radio requests, and also observe the actions of the driver.
  3. If necessary (malfunctions, inability of the driver to perform his duties, emergency), he must take control of the train or stop it.
  4. At the end of the trip, the assistant checks the condition of the locomotive and, together with his immediate supervisor, drives it to sidings.

Advantages and disadvantages of the profession

The main advantage of this work is wage, the level of which can be assessed as "above average". Also here is career which encourages further work.

Among the minuses, first of all, it should be noted that these specialists have to spend a lot of time traveling, and this has a bad effect on their personal lives.

Occupation assistant driver


There are certain types of work that cannot be done alone: ​​either it is physically impossible, or you need insurance from someone in case of unforeseen circumstances. That's one of those professions includes the machinist. Since these people operate huge and complex devices, an assistant is given to them to "help". The assistant driver is mostly only on the locomotive or combine, while other drivers work on their own.

For the first time, a person with such a specialty, of course, appeared when the type of equipment that he helps to manage appeared. For example, the first locomotives with steam engine began to work in the 30s of the XIX century, and they were served by a team of a machinist, his assistant and a fireman. The more perfect the technology became, the less people were needed to manage it. For example, 3 people worked on the first combine harvesters, and with modern technology one person can do it successfully. Today, the driver's assistant, rather, refers only to the locomotive, which, together with the driver, controls the entire train. ...

An assistant in the locomotive is needed for two reasons. Firstly, it is physically impossible to control the train by one person, since during the movement it is regularly necessary to simultaneously perform several technical operations in different places. Secondly, for safety net in case of disability by the driver. I think it's clear what a huge benefit the country's economy brings rail transport. Of course, the locomotive brigade is employees, without whom the national economy will simply stop.

People of this profession work all over the country, which, like nets, is tied up with railroad tracks. Where the train passes - there you should look for the driver with his assistant. To perform duties such as maintaining locomotive units and driving a train, a person must be friendly with technology, be attentive, remember the rules, have excellent vision and reaction. If the circumstances are favorable and the assistant makes noticeable progress at work, it means that soon he himself will become a machinist.

Working on a diesel or electric locomotive is not the safest way to make a living. Although the salaries of the members of the locomotive crew are slightly higher than the national average, one should not forget about the danger that lurks in the workplace. The train is a huge machine with a weight of tens of tons, developing considerable speed. In addition, people in this profession have to work with high voltage, which is present in some units of a heat and electric locomotive. But on the other hand, a beautiful view of the passable area opens from the cab.

A person who graduated from a railway technical school and completed an internship from an educational institution can work in this position. Further education on his way to the work of a machinist, the assistant receives already at the workplace.


Description of the profession

There are such types of work that it is very difficult or even impossible for one person to perform, or someone needs insurance if any unforeseen circumstances occur. Such specialties include the profession of a driver, since this person controls a large and complex apparatus, an assistant is given to help him. The assistant driver usually works on a combine or locomotive, while other drivers are forced to work alone.

The importance of the profession in society In a locomotive, an assistant is needed for 2 reasons. The first is that it is physically impossible to control the train by one person, since in the course of movement there is a constant need to simultaneously perform several technical operations in different, and sometimes opposite places of the locomotive. The second reason is insurance, because it can happen that the driver loses his ability to work. And at the expense of benefits, it is already clear that it is rail transport that brings huge benefits to the country's economy. And without its employees (locomotive brigade), the national economy will simply cease to function. Features of the profession Representatives of this profession work in the most diverse territories of their country, surrounded by networks of railway tracks. Where the railway transport passes and you should look for the driver and also his assistant. In order to maintain high-quality locomotive units, and most importantly, to drive a train, a person must have excellent technical knowledge, remember all the rules, be vigilant and have a quick reaction and excellent eyesight. And if the circumstances develop favorably and the assistant machinist achieves impressive progress at work, then soon he will be able to become a machinist himself. Cons of the profession Working on an electric or diesel locomotive is not the safest way to make money. Although the salary of the employees of the locomotive crew is much higher than the national average. But still, one should not forget about the danger that can lie in wait for an assistant driver at any moment in the workplace. After all, the train is a huge machine, the weight of which is about 10 tons, and besides, it develops considerable speed. And the drivers also have to work with high voltage, which is available in some units of electric and diesel locomotives. Where can you learn this profession? In order to work as an assistant driver, a person must graduate from a railway technical school and undergo an internship assigned educational institution. And the assistant receives further education already being at the workplace.