198107 – Logan – Recruitment and Training of Staff: NSW Notes

The Signalling Branch recruits apprentices, cadets and labourers in the main to meet its manpower requirements on the non-clerical side. However carpenters, plumbers, welders and fitters (for interlocking fitters) are also recruited directly.

Advancemant for non-professional staff is by seniority and suitability. In many cases additional qualification by internal examination is required. Advancement for senior officers, salaried clerical officers and sub-professional/professional officers from the base grade of Engineering Assistant upwards is subject to common opportunity and associated common seniority throughout both the Rail and Urban Transit Authorities. For Professional Engineers Class 2 grades and above, consideration of rank, position or grade are subordinate to ‘special fitness’ and selection is made on ‘comparative fitness’ for the position.

In recent years the Branch workload has dramatically increased with heavy capital works programes including resignalling schemes, track upgrading, electrication, duplication and coal export projects.

Additional tradesmen and engineering positions among others have been created. The output of qualified electricians from apprentices has been insufficient to fill vacant Signal Electrician positions and these positions are covered by extended shifts. Perway mechanised maintenance has increased particularly on weekends, when signal branch attendance is on an overtime basis. Relativity between tradesmen and sub-professional salaries has continued to erode and this coupled with the availability of overtime has practically eliminated one traditional source of engineering assistants for the office, ie from the signal electrician ranks.

Direct recruitment of base grade professional engineers and engineering assistant with certificate qualifications has been of limited success, particularly in the present market. The Branch is held to award rates and has lost cadet-trained employees to outside industry including other rail systems and even within the Authority advertised positions for other Branches, particularly the data processing section, have attracted applications from Signals and Communications branch trained staff.

Over this same period the Branch has acquired more sophisticated electronic equipment. This mainly comprises track circuits, multiplex systems, train describer systems (computer based) and automatic fare collection systems (micro-processor based) . Microwave systems, data modems and electronic exchanges have added to the communications equipment.

Contract supervision and administration has been an added facet to signal branch working.

Overall training in the Branch has been supervised by the Manager, Signals. Training notes, maintenance procedures and new equipment manuals have been produced by the relevant sections, more particularly the Technical Assistant’s section. The pressing workload and scarity of resources has resulted in a deficiency in this regard but the Branch is presently attempting to research and suitably update these documents.