Train Manager NMBS

Salary

1. PERSONALIA

Age: 29
Education: 2nd degree middle school (never finished my 6th year)
Work experience : 10 years
Civil status: Married
Dependent people/children: Zero

2. EMPLOYER PROFILE

Sector/Industry: Public Transport
Amount of employees: 17.000
Multinational? No

3. CONTRACT & CONDITIONS

Current job title: Train Manager (conducteur)
Seniority: 5 years
Average real hours/week incl. overtime: 38
Vacation days/year: 24+13 ADV

4. SALARY

Gross salary/month: 3204 EUR
Net salary/month: 2600 - 3200 EUR (depending on weekends worked and tickets sold)
Mobility budget/car/bike/...: Train is free in Benelux and limited free trains in Europe
13th month (full? partial?): Full
Meal vouchers: 6,50 EUR
Ecocheques: 250 EUR
Other benefits (bonuses, stocks options, ... ): Hospital insurance, option to lease a bike

5. MOBILITY

City/region of work: Kortrijk
Distance home-work: 2,5 km
How do you commute? Bike
Telework days/week: 0 days per week

6. OTHER

Double salary on sunday/holiday
4,49 EUR hourly bonus on saturday
4,73 EUR hourly bonus working before 5 am and after 9 pm
Bonus for tickets sold in the train (monthly): 1,50 EUR for the first 20, after that we get 3,50 EUR

in BESalaryby lombax16

96%

16d

User deleted comment

16d

lombax16

16d

That's the idea. Some people make a sport out of this tho. We call them "ticket hunters".

BerthjeTTV

16d

Yeah on the other side... I always travel to my school and back and I am maybe checked once by a train manager. Sometimes I wonder why I even pay a subscription if it never gets checked. Also why do the machines give green light when someone is on another route than the registered route on his subscription?

Example: a friend of mine had a subscription from zeebrugge to brugge and he went from ostend to brussels and when they came he accidentally gave his subscription instead of his ticket and they said it was good?

lombax16

16d

We got a new system. It used to be like this: Green meant a valid subscription for this route. Yellow was a valid subscription but the route might be wrong (not always but we had to check) Red was an invalid subscription.

With the new system we get green or red and if the system isn't sure about the route we get a tiny extra line of information on our screens that most of my colleagues don't check.

Now about the "should I even pay if I dont get checked"-attitude: I get it, but you don't pay to get checked. You pay to get from point A to point B. You don't take a plane or taxi without paying, so why would the train be any different?

Bricol13

16d

Do you guys even check tho ? I have the feeling you just scan it on the phone and move to the next person without a care if the world 😂

lombax16

16d

I normally check but some days I just run on autopilot or I've already dealt with enough shit on that day.

Bricol13

16d

Do they have data on how many people should be excepted on each train ? So that you can get in trouble if you scan less people than your colleague on the same train the previous week ?

(Sorry, I'm soooooo curious about your job)

lombax16

15d

Yeah there are numbers for each depot. So let's say the average number of scans in my depot is 2000. We are all expected to have the same number of scans or higher. A little lower is okay but if you drop below 70% they will start checking what the problem might be.

BerthjeTTV

16d

Taxi and plane, they make sure to verify everyone that is onboard that they actually paid. The train doesn't do this, I would like to see it like that.

It is quite impossible to travel with no valid subzcription or ticket on a plane. Lets make the trains like that too.

I am just furious about the fact that not only for students it is a shit ton to travel from Ostend to Bruges for a year costs 392 euros and never get checked.

I get that paying for the subscription / ticket act as an insurance for not getting the fine but make sure for the ones that do not, they get the fine.

tijlvp

16d

Do you follow the same reasoning when it comes to self scanning at a supermarket?

BerthjeTTV

16d

No. You got me there tbh. Just hope people don't actually run away with selfscanned items..

lombax16

15d

Actually your valid ticket/subscription constitutes a contract between you and nmbs/sncb. We are obligated to get you to your destination even if the last train got cancelled or you missed a connection and are out of options. (This only counts if you started your journey when it would still be possible to finish it).

So if that last train got cancelled or you missed your last connection: take a taxi, we will pay it back*.

*Only if there is absolutely no option to do it by train.

vynats

14d

392€ a year is about 33€ a month. If you do that route 20 times a month back and forth, that's about 1.6€ per trip. If you think that's a shit ton, I encourage you to check how much the car ride would cost in fuel alone.

BerthjeTTV

14d

I don't care about car ride, I CHOOSE to take the train. Nonetheless, we got very good public transport but it is way higher than some other countries next to us.

Awkward-Highlight348

14d

Of which country? Because Dutch trains are horribly expensive, German ones as well for the service they offet, and in France I don't know honestly.

Animal6820

16d

The train i used to take could not be walked in, everyone was pressed together and no-one could move an inch.

hgc81

16d

I was on the train the other day with a colleague who told me. She had to 3 x the cost of her ticket as she just jumped on the train. Could that really be the case? It’s sounded too high. I remember in the past if you found the conductor the price was cheaper than if he / she had to find you :-) mind you I have never not paid the fare so no idea. 🤷

lombax16

16d

If you buy a ticket in the train, there's a 9 euro supplement. There is some gefoefel we can do but that depends on your trajectory, the train manager and how nice you are.

But in theory the cheapest ticket is 2,50 euro which would be 11,50 euro in the train.

AbbreviationsFun8614

16d

Do you earn 1,5 per ticket sold or 1,50 after the first 20?

lombax16

15d

The first 20 it's 1,50 per ticket sold From 21 and upwards it's 3,50

So if I sell 50 tickets in a month that's (201,50)+(303,5)=135

AbbreviationsFun8614

12d

Ok thanks. Do you get there ?

lombax16

12d

I sell between 100 and 150 most months

AbbreviationsFun8614

12d

Are you motivated to sell more ? Is there a minimum amount to sell ?

hgc81

16d

Cheers for the reply. 😀

MaxMeister00

16d

Maybe stupid question but you’re a conducteur, no?

Denvosreynaerde

16d

Yes, train manager is the fancy name for conducteur.

lombax16

16d

Yep, in dutch it would be "treinbegeleider" and in french "accompagnateur de train". They changed it because "conducteur" is French for driver.

Denvosreynaerde

16d

Yeah, I know, I do the same job =) But I feel like the general public barely knows what a 'treinbegeleider' is, so I wanted to keep it simple.

Tijs007

16d

I might be overthinking this to much but:

Train manager = person that manages trains = Seinhuismedewerker/Controletorentoestand? or smth?

BionicBananas

16d

Bonus for tickets sold in the train (monthly): 1,50 EUR for the first 20, after that we get 3,50 EUR

This makes me think he is a conducteur?

Tijs007

16d

You’re right!

Rightwisewicked

16d

How hard is it to take days off?

lombax16

16d

It depends a bit on where in the country your depot is. There are 5 districts and every district has its own set of rules.

For the people in Kortrijk it's starting to get better but we've had a rough couple of years.

BowlerLegitimate1365

13d

My dad has this job. He didn’t get his summer vacation for 3 years in a row. Then once got it accepted, now he did not get it once more.

He has to take his vacation days in months like February, March and April because they expire. He has to swap with colleagues for making a 2 week trip in summer, which is very hard at times, he’s very social and has a lot of friends at his depot, but it still remains hard.

Apart from this, I think it’s a very nice job and he’s not really complaining about it.

Yslock

16d

Isnt your gross/net difference really small? Or is mine just way to big….. You pay a lot of taxes at the end of a year?

tijlvp

16d

The gross will be their base pay which doesn't take into account the extra pay for weekends and evening/night hours.

Animal6820

16d

Thats's a fair salary, if you tickethunt you can out-earn a lot of us!

lombax16

16d

I personally sell between 100 and 150 tickets per month, which is a nice bonus.

ModoZ

15d

How do you think this averages compared to your colleagues? Do some people make a competition out of it?

lombax16

15d

I'm on the high end of the spectrum, at least for my depot. We do have "ticket hunters", some of them easily sell 200+ tickets a month.

Blovic

16d

This seems salary seems really high for what the job entails. What’s the caveat? €2600 base pay for no degree and no technical skills is crazy, the bonus structure also seems very lucrative.

charlybe

16d

Working on weekends, early in the mornings or late at night.

lombax16

15d

If everything goes the way it is supposed to go, that would be true, but we do more than just check tickets. If stuff goes wrong we need to know exactly what to do. The actual training takes a good 5 months and not everybody makes it through the exams.

Typical-Source-6046

16d

Damn, and you guys still find a reason to strike multiple days a year…

Hulbul

16d

Probably that's why they go on strike 😉. They might know they might be the ones after whom we'll strip their privileges away. Saw a similiar post about teachers who also receive rather positive salary Still respect for the job

lombax16

16d

The "ancients" have it tough because they've been losing advantages and bonuses through the years while the shifts are getting busier and busier and agression is on the rise without a real response from higher up. I'm relatively new so for me it's normal but I get why they are striking. Some people use it as the only sure fire way to get a day off as well.

Real_XIV

16d

Best pay for effort job in the country without a degree. Not my words, but from friends who do the job

m_vc

16d

How much is the ticket bonus per month if you persue it every day?

lombax16

15d

It highly depends on what shifts, what trains and how willing the people are to pay. I've had days with 0 sales and my "personal best" is 28 in a day.

ruphu

16d

Seems like a fun job to me. I like to walk

lombax16

15d

If you like to walk you should try gemeenschapswacht

akisomething

16d

Interesting! When I was looking into the job it said you had to have a high school degree (which I'm currently getting - 32 years old), but it sounds like you also don't have one?

Did that requirement change recently?

lombax16

15d

They changed it just before the pandemic. Now you either have to have finished your 4th hear ASO or TSO or your 6th year BSO.

If you're still interested, I can answer any question you might have.

Suzu7kke

15d

that's why that day the guy tried selling me ticket while i have my subscription and just forgot it home , and told me if i dont pay now imma pay 90euro later , i still refused to pay since i have valid subscription that i just forgot . very greedy ! never had a problem taking trains in wallonia but flanders those white guys are mean somehow not all ofc .

lombax16

14d

Before february the procedure for a forgotten subscription (only mobib, not multi) was to sell a ticket (you'd get your money back at the counter. If you can't/won't pay, you would get a C170. You still needed to go to the counter with it and your valid subscription, but if you didn't withing 2 weeks, you'd get fined 90 euro.

Now we just make the c170 with the new system.

NotAnother_Bot

14d

Don't you have to pay any taxes on your "ticket sales"? Seems really unfair for everybody else working in this country?

J4e656f

14d

Hey,

I'm passing my last certificate exam next week. Anytip for a new train manager? Sent you a dm

hgc81

16d

How do you remember who you checked on the train and who you need to check? It’s always impressed me to be honest 😀. What’s the secret!

lombax16

16d

I honestly don't, but some people have a real talent for it.

Dondal

16d

In de vacature staat er dat je Frans moet kunnen, is dat echt een vereiste? Mijn gf overweegt deze job namelijk. En zijn er veel agressie gevallen?

lombax16

16d

Frans is wel een vereiste maar als je een basis hebt kan je alvast starten. Binnen 5 jaar moet je dan examens afleggen en als het te moeilijk is voorziet nmbs lessen.

Agressie is nogal dubbel, wat is agressie? Voor sommigen is dit al een luide discussie voor anderen moet je al halfdood geslaan zijn. Agressie heb je deels zelf in de hand, signalen herkennen en op tijd jezelf uit een situatie verwijderen is het belangrijkste. De 3,50 euro is het niet waard om klappen voor te krijgen.