Every time we go on a business trip, on a trip, to visit relatives or friends, we use the services of companies that provide passenger transportation. One of the most popular is the Russian Railways company, since train travel is the most budgetary option. Such trips are usually long-term and take several days, but there is so much romance in each of them!

On the way, passengers are always accompanied by conductors, who, contrary to the opinion of many people, have a huge responsibility for everyone who travels in the carriage. However, there are many advantages to this profession. Reconomica I talked with a seasoned conductor of a passenger car and in this article tells the story of Stella, who described in detail her entire career in the profession from the beginning to the present day.

Profession PPV

Hello, my name is Ivasyuk Stella Semyonovna, I am 28 years old, I am a conductor of a passenger carriage. My place of work is the passenger carriage depot in Khabarovsk, LVChD -1. My work experience is 5 years.

A passenger carriage conductor is a very responsible and difficult profession. It contains a whole combination of skills. I have to be a sociable person, vigilant along the way and, among other things, a subtle psychologist who knows how to find a common language with different categories of people.

It often seems to an ordinary passenger that our business is small - to check the ticket, bring a bed and offer hot tea. But in fact, the duties of the conductor include a lot of other concerns besides the generally accepted service staff.

Throughout the entire route, you need to listen to your carriage, each wheelset, in order to identify a slider or chip in time; monitor electrical equipment and water supply; heat titanium in a timely manner and monitor the water level in it; fill in the train log and prevent a passenger from passing through the station; be responsible for disrupting the stop valve and be ready at any time to become a signalman during an emergency stop of the train.

Khabarovsk.

Small start of a long journey

For those who wish to put on a railway uniform, I would like to advise you to look inside yourself and understand: could you clean up the waste of unscrupulous citizens (there are a lot of different cases)? Are you ready to restrain your emotions during inappropriate passenger behavior? Would you find a smile in response to a boorish appeal?

The profession itself is not as difficult as the difficulties that people bring.

And if you are nevertheless ready to join the ranks of the “roaming the country,” then little remains to be done. Training does not require huge costs, time and effort. I took PPV courses at the State Transport University (FESTU) in 3 months. There are a lot of railway technical schools in Russia that provide this type of education on a paid basis. In total, no more than 30 thousand rubles came out.

Knowledge, of course, was also rammed into the head by the express method. It was necessary to study a huge amount of material, starting with the basic provisions, the structure of the car (malfunctions, equipment, electrical equipment, heating system) and ending with a decent list of various fire extinguishers and train documentation.

Wheelsets are required to study.

We get settled on the railroad

Finding a job in your specialty is not an easy task. Despite the huge turnover in this area, the employer does not seek to hire people without work experience.

Therefore, a little advice for those who nevertheless chose this track: when choosing PPV courses, focus on ensuring that subsequent employment is provided.

This condition guarantees that after completing your studies and passing all exams, you will be provided with a job. But, as a rule, one cannot do without a small "but". The medical commission is the root of all evil and staff rejection. Paramedics of railway hospitals are very great comedians who like to arrange various quests and runs from one floor to another. You must be ready to open every corner of your body, soul and brain for them, usually more than once.

I would also like to add that all the costs of the medical examination will be refunded to you as soon as possible. As far as monetary relations are concerned, the railway must be given its due. For five years of work, I have not encountered a delay in the payment of salaries.

Flight

Before sending on a long journey, the conductor needs to take a shift. Together with the handing over team, my partner and I must recount the entire inventory. The number of mattresses and pillows, buckets, brooms, scoops, and check the presence of all glasses, cup holders and spoons; inspect the boiler room and water supply system; accept tea products on the invoice and a mountain of bags with clean linens; make sure that you have all the train documentation and signal equipment (flags, flashlights, firecrackers); check the seals for integrity; supply the car with coal and water. All this must be done in a certain amount of time before sending the train to the station.

Before boarding, passengers need to get their appearance in order and dress in the appropriate uniform.

On the way, across the vastness of Russia, I had a chance to see and experience a lot. The most frequent thing I had to deal with was a drunken brawl. As a conductor of a reserved seat carriage, I have seen enough of such concerts. I am glad that most of the passengers are still normal, friendly people. In different cities of our country, thanks to the profession, acquaintances and friends have appeared.

Take a break before landing.

Negative points

There were also quite sad cases in practice, for example, suicide. Some citizens, following the example of Anna Karenina, create a lot of problems. After the emergency stop of the train, I, as the conductor of the tail car, have to walk a kilometer to install signal firecrackers on the rails. In winter, this is not the best thing to do. In addition, the delay in the train leads to the outrage of passengers and a huge loss of funds for every minute of downtime. Also, in the old type cars in winter there is a sore problem - a toilet. Armed with a heating pad with boiling water and a crowbar, shivering from the cold, I beat off and warm up an ingenious invention at almost every major station in the frozen country. And this is not all the "delights" of our work.

On the railroad, there are five bosses for every worker, and each one pulls the blanket over himself. During the one-way trip only, respected auditors visit at least four times.

The salary

The most enjoyable moment in any job. The railway pays decently for work and does not have the habit of delaying timely payments. The average income of a conductor hovers around 25 thousand. Much depends on the season and the number of hours worked. It also matters what time of day you were on shift. Night hours are more expensive. My partner and I shared the day in equal parts: from 3 am to 15 pm - my shift.

Northern allowances are paid in addition depending on the area of ​​employment. Another very important role is played by auditors: the shortcomings they find negatively affect the salary. Missing inventory will also be deducted from your amount.

But for all the minuses, there are pluses. Russian Railways provides a full social package, additional payments for the birth of a child and free travel by rail, as well as once a year a free trip across Russia is provided for the whole family.

Perspectives

If you want to work and move up the career ladder, you have a good chance of becoming a train boss. Higher education and work on different sections of the railway communication are sufficient components for growth.

On average, 5 years is enough to leave the working compartment and move to the staff car.

The salary also gets a raise, as does the list of new responsibilities.

Romance or anguish

On the whole, of course, work has its pluses and minuses. I consider it a good bonus to be able to see my country, the vastness of forests and rivers, the greatness of cities and a variety of stations, meet interesting people and just plunge into the Russian Railways system.

Everyone chooses what he likes. As for me, a passenger carriage conductor is not a dream profession. Difficulty and constant stress, frequent absence from home and, as a result, absence of a family. All this does not in the best way affect health and mental balance. But if you are the opposite of my type of person, able to find a way out of different situations, enjoying sudden adventures, then this is your way. Feel free to jump into the carriage and move only forward without regret.

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When you go on the train, it seems that it is not so difficult to work as a conductor: I collected tickets, gave them tea, followed the order - and that's all.

Elena Ivanova

passenger train conductor

In fact, not all of them. The conductors are responsible for the serviceability of the equipment and the comfort of passengers. If something goes wrong during the trip, they ask us. At the same time, we do not get so much - up to 40 thousand at best, and on average 25 thousand rubles.

Let me tell you what it's like to work as a conductor on a passenger train.

What kind of work

A passenger train conductor is a waiter, cleaner, stoker, electrician, psychologist, salesperson and many others in one person. He checks the identity of passengers, puts them in the right places in the carriage, gives out linen, feeds, enters passenger data in a strict reporting form and drops them off at the desired station. The conductor is responsible for the life and health of passengers, so he must know how to behave in an emergency.

We also settle conflicts and keep the carriage clean. Every trip we need to sell goods, and in winter we need to clear the snow under the cars and remove the ice.

All about work and earnings

How to change your profession, get more and how to make money. Twice a week in your mail

Almost every trip there are some problems: either the passengers do not have the necessary documents and they cannot be put in the carriage, or someone does not have time to catch the train. It happens that someone drinks too much. And of course, some of the passengers will definitely smoke in the vestibule or between the cars, and this is prohibited. All these problems are solved by us, the conductors, and the head of the train.

Every time we are obliged to be extremely polite and attentive, even if the passenger is rude and behaves inappropriately. On one of the trips, the passenger demanded that the temperature in the carriage be +21 ° C. Came to the compartment of conductors and scandalized. I had to calmly explain every time that the temperature is set by the climate control system and I can't do anything about it.

The ranks of the railway professions

All positions are divided into categories. The higher the rank, the greater the responsibility and the higher the salary. For example, the first category is for car cleaners, and the chiefs of the railway service are in the 15-17th category. Conductors are workers of the 2-5th category:

• the second category - at the conductors of some suburban trains;
• the third category - at the conductors of long-distance trains;
• the fourth - at the conductors of branded trains and trains of international traffic;
• the fifth - from conductors who know a foreign language on trains of international communication.

The head of the train has digits from 8 to 11, the logic of the digits is the same. The head of the train is responsible for the safety of passengers, supervises the conductors and technical staff, deals with conflicts and complaints. He is also responsible for ensuring that the train leaves and arrives on time.

Railway companies, salary and schedule

There are several railway companies in Russia: Russian Railways, Grand Express, Transklassservice and others. Russian Railways owns other companies, such as the Federal Passenger Company. They all employ guides on a regular basis.

Salaries in railway companies are different. In TCS they pay more. One of the reasons is that conductors travel there on different, longer schedules. The FPK offers a salary of 25,000 to 30,000 RUR per month, and the TKS - 39,000 RUR.

Conductors work in shifts. The schedule is 8/8, 14/14, 16/16. Sometimes they can be sent on several flights in a row, for example in the summer or if there are not enough conductors. Such shifts are paid at a higher rate, as well as work on holidays.

The FPK offers a salary of 25 thousand rubles per month and presents a long list of duties and requirements for the candidate

How to become a guide

Courses. It is not difficult to become a guide in Russian Railways. It is enough to have a secondary education and take courses - they are held from September to December. The courses teach how to resolve conflicts, provide knowledge on safety, labor protection, design and operation of equipment in passenger cars. Courses at FPK and "Grand Express" are free of charge.

To become a train manager, you cannot do without higher education. The specialty does not have to be railway, although it is easier with it.

After the courses, future guides are instructed, tested and trained.

At the briefing familiarize with the place of work, the rules of the labor schedule, the main issues of labor protection. One more instruction is carried out directly at the workplace - they tell where to cross the tracks, how to behave in a particular carriage, etc. Once every three months - repeated instructions.

At the testing stage you need to complete tests for logic, knowledge of disciplines and pass a psychological test.

During the internship beginners go on a test flight with an experienced guide. They can take on any flight, there are no restrictions on the range. It happens that you have to do an internship on a Moscow-Vladivostok flight. During the internship, beginners fill out diaries. There they write what they did and when: they checked tickets, cleaned up, sold goods, etc. An experienced guide at the end of the flight assesses the newcomer. We usually give good grades because newbies always try to show their best side.

Every few years, conductors undergo additional training and exams in all railway disciplines. Before the 2018 FIFA World Cup, conductors on trains organized to transport foreign fans had an additional basic English course.

How work is arranged on a trip

Before boarding passengers at the terminal station, I clean the carriage: wash the floors and all surfaces, clean the toilets. I work on a branded train, so I have to make the beds on the top bunks. A few minutes before boarding, we receive a list of passengers in our carriage on special devices.

Landing. At the starting station, boarding takes place half an hour before the departure of the train. I verify the passenger details on the identity document and on the ticket. Often problems arise with documents: it happens, for example, passengers buy a reduced ticket without having such a right. In this case, I call the head of the train, and we deal with each problem individually.

Passengers often make mistakes in the data - this happens at least once per trip. According to internal regulations, a passenger can make one mistake in the name or number of the document. You can enter the carriage even if the wrong gender is indicated on the ticket.

If there are more errors, you need to have time to correct the data before sending. We inform the head of the train about errors, he asks the operator if the ticket is valid, after which the operator changes the data. It is better, of course, to arrive at the station in advance, so that in such a situation everything can be done before the train leaves. The service costs 200 rubles.

Even children under five travel on trains for free on the same shelf with an accompanying person. In this case, the child needs to issue a free ticket at the box office. Parents often forget this. Then the child is issued a ticket on the train, but they also take 200 RUR for this.

We check the passenger data on the electronic ticket control device. There is a list of those who bought tickets. If a passenger returns a ticket, this is immediately displayed. This is how we identify hares who buy tickets on the Internet, print them out, and then hand them over and try to get into the carriage using the printout. Photo: Russian Railways

After the train departs I once again ask you to show your passport. Many passengers do not like this, because the tickets have already been checked at boarding. But we do this not out of a whim, but in order to identify the free riders who went into the carriage under the guise of seeing them off and stayed.

After checking tickets I'm going to sell goods. On non-branded trains, conductors distribute linen and open toilets after the sanitary zone. We also offer to buy additional food, tea, slippers, hygiene items, souvenirs.

After the sale of goods, I enter passenger data in strict reporting forms. It is impossible to make mistakes in the forms. If I find an inaccuracy, only the head of the train can correct it. If the train crosses the border of the country, the conductor must enter the details of passengers traveling abroad in migration cards.

Conductor's compartment

Conductors usually have two compartments: the first, where we sleep, the second, where we work and monitor the sensors. While one conductor is working, the other is resting in the sleeping compartment.

Sensors in the working compartment show the temperature in the carriage, whether everything is fine with electrical appliances, whether there is hot water in the boiler. This compartment also has a sink, sometimes a microwave oven and a coffee machine. Dishes, goods, first aid kit and inventory are also stored there.

From time to time you need to clean up the car: wash floors and toilets, remove garbage. During long stops in winter, sometimes it is necessary to clear snow and ice from undercarriage equipment: wheels, levers, steps. Even before the trip, you need to throw the mattresses on the upper shelves, and after each landing, carry heavy bags of linen. Because of this, my back often hurts.

In addition, I have to fulfill the following responsibilities:

1. Making the bed for the sick, people with disabilities, or young children.
2. Make sure that all the necessary hygiene items are in the toilets. If they are not there, passengers can ask the conductor to bring them.
3. Warn about stops no later than 30 minutes in advance.
4. Make sure that the equipment in the carriage is in good working order.
5. Give out cutlery and glasses.
6. Provide first aid if necessary. One day a passenger had an epileptic seizure. I, with the help of other passengers, held him until the doctors arrived, and stuck a spoon between his teeth so that he would not bite his tongue.
7. Do not allow passengers with prohibited, dirty or stinking items into the carriage, for example, weapons without a permit to carry and a cover, a can of gasoline.

I don't search anyone, but if I see people with prohibited items, I have to call the head of the train and the transport security service. If these items are found on the passenger, he may be dropped off. Once I had to force passengers to leave a can of gasoline on the platform: it stank in the whole car.

In front of the terminal station, I take the linen and take away the passenger registration forms and tickets to the headquarters car, where the head of the train is traveling. If passengers have not returned their laundry, we collect it ourselves. When passengers get off, I check to see if anyone has left their belongings in the carriage. If I find something, we draw up an act and hand over the things to the station attendant.

Difficulties

You have to communicate a lot with passengers. This communication is not always pleasant, but in any case you have to smile. For example, conductors should not be allowed into the carriage drunk. Moreover, if a passenger drinks on a trip or is rowdy, according to the rules, he must be dropped off at the nearest station. At such moments, I have to be both adamant and polite, and it's not so easy when a passenger starts to be rude or spread his arms.

Passengers sometimes come with very strange questions. On branded trains, both toilets are at the far end of the car. People often do not believe that there is not a toilet, but a pantry near the compartment of the conductors, and they think that there is another toilet there, and the conductors, such scoundrels, hide it.

Once at about five in the morning I jumped up from the roar and heard a shout: "Does the head of the train know what you have done here ?!" I run out, and there a man stands near an open closet, with bulging eyes looks at the shelves with inventory and yells: “Where did you go to the toilet? Why did you put shelves here? " I had to explain to him that in branded trains, both toilets are located at the far end of the car, and the shelves were not put by me, but by those who designed and built the car. The man at first did not believe it, but in the end he calmed down. They did not call the head of the train.

Sometimes passengers are surprised. On one trip, a man asked if the train was passing by Dzerzhinsk. I replied that I was passing by, but did not stop there. The passenger was not taken aback and asked if it was possible "quietly" to get off the train on the move, they say, no one would find out. I had to disappoint him.

Many people think that guides travel a lot and can explore the city in between times. In fact, we are allowed into the city only with the permission of the train chief and only to the pharmacy, grocery or canteen. If I go out into the city, I don't even try to go somewhere else: for such a violation they can be fined.

Bonuses in the work of the conductor

Working as a guide is hard, but there are benefits.

Stability. On the railway, the salary is white, bonuses are awarded for loyalty to the company. The bonus is paid every five years in the amount of several salaries. They also pay extra for work on holidays, they always pay sick leaves. Everything is according to the Labor Code.

Full benefits package. The conductors receive voluntary medical insurance - VHI, which includes dental services. They also give the opportunity to be treated free of charge in sanatoriums and visit the pool. Railway companies, upon application, make additional contributions to the pension fund on account of the funded pension, fully pay for travel by rail from home to the place of work, if the distance is not more than 150 km. Children of the guides go to summer camps with a big discount.

Once a year, the guides together with the child can travel free of charge anywhere in Russia by train back and forth - minus personal income tax. This means that 13% of the ticket price will be deducted from the salary. The rest of the time, everything is as usual, no benefits.

Such social guarantees are indicated in the conditions of work in vacancies from the FPK

Briefly about conductors

1. Working as a conductor is hard.
2. They go to the railroad for the sake of stable earnings and social benefits.
3. It is usually not difficult to become a guide - a three-month course is enough. If you want to become a train manager, higher education is required.
4. Most passengers are well-mannered and adequate people, but there will always be those with whom it is more difficult to find a common language. If the conflict cannot be resolved, the head of the train will always come to the rescue.

Dmitry Sofyannikov, who worked as a conductor of a passenger train for several years, shared on Twitter with the secrets of safe and comfortable travel.

Rules to know

Animals can be transported in compartment cars. And all would be fine, but I once saw how a raccoon was carried on a leash and walked at the stations.

Dmitry Sofyannikov

1. Nobody wants to remember that the maximum weight is 36 kg for one ticket in a reserved seat, and the sum of three dimensions should not exceed 180 cm. No, you must come in with 19 bags, because "yes, I'll put them out somehow."

2. If you think that no one will know about smoking in the toilet, you are mistaken. The ventilation of the carriage is arranged in such a way that from the vestibule, the toilet and the slanting corridor, all the air is drawn into the conductor's compartment.

An information sheet is put up for the caught smokers. The first such sheet is a fine of 1,500 rubles, and the ticket will indicate that you are a smoker; second, you simply won't be sold a train ticket.

Vapers are another story. Vaping in the car is prohibited, as well as smoking, but there are clever people who “this is steam, not smoke, I don’t smoke”.

3. No matter how many warnings they write, people still throw paper into the dry closet. You spoil your own life: such a toilet is not repaired on the road. And so, because of one passenger, the whole carriage suffers.

By the way, you can use the toilet during the sanitary zones, but only if you need to wash, brush your teeth or shave. The handler is obliged to stand nearby and watch not to be used. However, if the child has an urge to refuse, they have no right to refuse, but in this case, you cannot press the flush pedal.

4. If you decide to save money and not buy bed linen, your destiny is to lie on a shelf or walk around the carriage, because you cannot use a mattress without linen.

5. And here is the terrible secret of all "Russian Railways": you do not have to hand over bed linen to the conductor when you leave at your station. And the conductor cannot force you to take him a set of underwear, at most - be ready to go out in half an hour.

6. The conductor is prohibited from letting out people at train stops less than five minutes long. Be understanding. There is no need for this "yes, I have a quick smoke." This is a security issue, so bear with it.

7. You can drink vodka on the trains! But don't overdo it. A passenger who seems too drunk to the conductor may be dropped off. He also has the right, in principle, not to let a passenger into the carriage if, in the opinion of the conductor, he is too drunk or behaves inappropriately. Even if he had the most expensive ticket to the coolest place.

Safety precautions to be followed

Parcels cannot be transferred. Not at all. Even envelopes. For my comrade, the FSB agent planted a dummy bomb in the vestibule disguised as a package of pills. It almost didn't come to dismissal.

Dmitry Sofyannikov

8. For heaven's sake, do not charge your gadgets from the sockets in the carriages! Most often, the wiring on trains is so-so, and if the iPhone does not fail all the electrics in the carriage, then you will definitely ruin the battery for yourself. - our everything!

Although, in fairness, it should be said that the iPhone is not so scary yet. That's when they insert an extension cord into an extension cord, and several laptops into it - this is already dangerous. Conductors usually stop this.

9. If the car catches fire at speed, it takes five minutes. Observe fire safety.

10. There is always a first aid kit in the train carriage. It contains bandages, gauze, plaster, gloves, iodine, but no medicine. Therefore, always before the trip, check that you have taken all the pills you need, and do not spare money on it.

11. The conductor is obliged to provide first aid to a passenger who has become ill. They are taught this on purpose, so feel free to ask. At the nearest large station, doctors will already come to the carriage and conduct a professional examination.

12. The conductor should only pull down the stop valve if there is a threat to the lives of passengers. In all other cases, a fine of about 5,000 rubles will be imposed. And even a minute idle train on the tracks costs a pretty penny.

13. It's safe to sleep on the top bunk. To fall from it, you have to really want to. For children, ask the handler for safety belts and lift up the special iron stopper at the edge of the shelf.

14. Safety is not an empty phrase. Although this is being monitored, accidents occur every year with both passengers and conductors. Therefore, be careful and listen to the guide. All instructions on the railroad are written in blood.

The comfort we deserve

In summer, you can travel very cheaply long distances in good wagons. Discounts on the top bunk in a compartment - up to 50%, you can save money and save yourself from reserved seats, grannies and constant walking around the carriage.

Dmitry Sofyannikov

15. The third and fifth compartments are emergency exits, the windows there do not open. Therefore, in summer it is unbearable there, and nothing can be done if there is no air conditioning. Consider this if you are going to travel far.

16. The air conditioning in the carriage is connected to the generator, which starts working only when the train picks up a speed of more than 30 km / h. That is why a trip along the Black Sea coast (four hours at a speed of 30–35 km / h and stops) turned into hell.

In general, on the issue of air conditioning, the conductor is always on the side of the passengers. They are the same people who travel in the same conditions as you. If the conductor says that the air conditioner is not working, then he is not lying.

17. In the new cars, the conductor has a small one. He is obliged to carry baby food in it if asked, but you can agree to put something else there.

But in old cars in two vestibules there are pockets for storing coal. There, the temperature is lower than throughout the entire composition. If you are carrying, for example, fish, you can also negotiate with the guide.

18. The side of the toilet has an advantage that overcomes all the disadvantages - you are always the first to go to the toilet in the morning.

19. Some trains have a service - a shower in the headquarters car. It costs 100-250 rubles.

20. And most importantly, the conductors are people just like the passengers. If you treat them humanly, then your trip will become more comfortable.

The train in Russia is more than just a means of transportation. Due to the size of the country and the hyper-centralized rail network, overcoming even a short distance turns into a long journey on which the reserved seat becomes your home - with slippers, homemade food and good (or whatever you are) neighbors with. It seems that with the construction, which has been talked about for the last 10 years, all this will become a thing of the past. But until the high-speed future has arrived and the conductors remain the masters of the railway. As part of the "Insider" section, "Indé" asked the former conductor of a passenger train about the backstage of the profession.

Start: the student squad and the Moscow reserve of guides

I studied at KFU on a humanitarian specialty. He took part in the activities of student brigades (these are the successors of the Soviet system of construction brigades) - along this line one could find some kind of work for the summer. We called it virgin land. It was possible to go to the construction, pedagogical agricultural detachments, but I did not want to build the Vostochny cosmodrome, or be a leader in the camp, or pick tomatoes in the Crimea. I chose the job as a conductor purposefully and went there right after the first year - I liked the prospect of communicating with people and changing the environment. For three full summers and two winter vacations of work on the train, I visited Murmansk, Arkhangelsk, Smolensk, Anapa, Sukhum (these are the extreme points of my travels). In general, Russian Railways requires additional conductors precisely for the period of increased passenger load - that is, for summer and winter vacations. Incidentally, I twice celebrated the New Year on the train - not on the way, however, but during a daily stop in Smolensk. We walked around the city with colleagues, heated the carriage, laid the table, and listened to Putin on the radio.

“By the way, I twice celebrated the New Year on the train - not on the way, however, but during a daily stop in Smolensk. We walked around the city with colleagues, heated the carriage, laid the table, listened to Putin on the radio "

Before the first summer season, I was sent to a three-month training. It was led by an employee of the student brigade organization, who himself worked as a conductor for five to six years. At school, they talk about everything - about labor protection, carriages, first aid and service rules. After the courses, I went to get a job in the reserve of conductors of passenger cars (conductors are listed in the "reserves" units, which, in turn, belong to certain depots) Moscow-Oktyabrskaya. I, a freshman with a heightened sense of social justice, did not like it there - we were given a job all day long, there were a lot of students, they treated us rudely - everything looked like a queue at a military registration and enlistment office. At the same time, personnel guides came there on their own business, and the attitude towards them was incomparably better. As a result, I worked in the Moscow reserve for two summers, the rest of the time in St. Petersburg. In the summer, about 1,500 student guides passed through the St. Petersburg reserve (because St. Petersburg has the largest carriage section in Russia, and trains leave from there in many directions).

First flight and professional life hacks

The first flight for all is an intern, that is, a beginner travels with an experienced guide. Although if there are not enough conductors, they can immediately send them to an independent one. An internship flight is always short-term, for a maximum of three days. My first one was Moscow - Murmansk on the Arktika branded train. Then I had the main shock - on the very first day I saw all the dark behind the scenes of the conductor's work.

My mentor was an adult and very adventurous woman who seems to make money out of everything. Firstly, she traded in "Chinese", that is, she sold dirty linen (I do not know why it is called that - probably because everything Chinese is associated with poor quality). She took the linen after the passenger got off, checked it for obvious dirt and hair, tidied it up a little, packed it in a bag, sealed the seams with a lighter and sold it as new. I knew about such stories, but I did not think that it could happen on a branded train. Later I learned that this practice is ubiquitous; a conductor can earn about 10 thousand rubles only on linen for a long flight. My mentor also sold tea and groceries: you buy in the store the same Greenfield that Russian Railways sells, and sell it at train prices (a tea bag is 45 rubles, that is, you beat off the price of the entire package by selling three bags). She also took money for smoking between the carriages and deceived drunken passengers - she sat down with them, chatted and handed them several lottery tickets. Even experienced conductors turn around in their favor situations in which passengers flirt with them: they persuade their boyfriends to buy tea, chocolate, souvenirs and so on. Men, wanting to show off in front of the object of sympathy, can buy the whole tray of sweets and give it to the conductor. It is clear that she will not eat it - she will take the money and put everything up for sale again. And the conductor in the "Arctic" transported "hares" - a reserved seat carriage in this direction is rarely full, so there are always places for free riders.

“She took the laundry after the passenger got off, checked it for obvious dirt and hair, tidied it up a little, packed it in a bag, sealed the seams with a lighter and sold it as new. I knew about such stories, but I did not think that it could happen on a branded train. "

All this, of course, is illegal and punishable by disciplinary measures up to and including dismissal. But the practice has developed a long time ago, and everyone just turns a blind eye to it. True, they say that now it has become much stricter with the "hares". Compliance with the order and job descriptions is monitored by auditors. These are Russian Railways employees who board the train at certain stations and check how things are going on the train. Checks do not take place on every flight and, in theory, should be unexpected - so that no one has time to prepare. But in fact, the conductors know in advance where the inspector will sit (usually these are large junction stations). As soon as he gets on the train, the information is transmitted along a chain from car to car - while the inspector is with the neighbors, you can have time to hide some minor violations. They still do not find serious ones, because the sphere is highly corrupt - the head of the train always has money brought in by the conductors, and there will always be a bribe and a table for the inspector. As a result, the auditor will walk the train (although sometimes the check is so nominal that it does not need to be inspected), make a couple of remarks for the mess, draw up several acts, but will not see anything serious. Although "Chinese", left-handed tea products and "hares" are serious violations that entail dismissal without the right to reinstate at work in railway transportation (they will not even be taken as a switchman on the tracks).

Salary and additional responsibilities

Payment for the conductor's work is hourly. Three years ago, when I worked, they paid 76 rubles an hour (now it seems to be 86 rubles). At least over the summer, according to the terms of the employer, I had to skate 450 hours - this is a completely feasible task in two and a half months. For example, the flight Moscow - Anapa - Moscow - Murmansk - Moscow takes 10 days. You go with a partner, shift for 12 hours, and as a result, we were given 110 hours for him. The base salary is small, but there are allowances for night work and arrivals to the Far North, bonuses for record sales of tea products, souvenirs and other things. It seems that 76 rubles per hour is not enough, but the maximum that I received over the summer was 120 thousand rubles. For a student, this is a very decent amount. Last year I received 70 thousand rubles - the crisis affected. In that year, all the conductors complained that they were underpaid, that they were underpaid, and that they were cutting everything down if possible. In addition, it was in the St. Petersburg reserve, where a complete mess always reigned, therefore, having received my money, I did not begin to find out anything - it was more expensive for myself.

Selling souvenirs and related goods on the train is a separate responsibility of the conductor. The required sales volumes are not spelled out anywhere (although the conductors say that there are standards in the internal documents of Russian Railways) - they are set by the head of the train. We had to sell seven lottery tickets of Russian Railways for the flight. The norm of the amount for a souvenir and tea products is calculated according to the formula 20-30 rubles per passenger, that is, the conductor must give 5000-7000 rubles from the carriage to the head of the train. As a rule, I succeeded. Nobody accepts the unrealized goods back, so the conductors reimburse the remaining amount from their own pockets. Because of this system, ridiculous precedents arise like the "tax on boiling water", which is taken exclusively from foreigners. Foreigners do not buy anything on the train: either they have everything with them, or they simply don’t eat that. But everyone drinks tea and coffee, so in pursuit of profit and beautiful reports, some conductors charge foreign passengers on average 50 rubles per glass of water. They say that the Chinese have long taken such a lodge for granted and meekly hand over money for free boiling water.

We also reimburse the cost of linen stolen by passengers (1,500 rubles per set) and cup holders (about 2,000 rubles per piece) from our own pockets. And according to the instructions, the conductor must pay the costs of the passenger's journey to his station if he forgot to drop him off. But this has never happened to me.

Safety engineering and old rolling stock

Conductors are the nerve of the whole train. We are the first to record violations and emergencies, and then we report them to the headquarters carriage (except for the train chief's compartment, there is a room for Ministry of Internal Affairs officers, a room for storing linen and a radio point). Each carriage has a fire warning system that works even when the train is stationary. But the automatic fire extinguishing system is installed only in the working compartment of the conductor, because there is an electrical panel. Fire on our trains is a very dangerous thing. The car burns to ashes on average in seven minutes. In the event of an alarm, the instruction is as follows: the conductor runs into the compartment from where the signal is coming from, looks if there is a fire (the system is very sensitive and even reacts to vape). If it is really a fire, then the second conductor in the chain sends information to the headquarters car, the first pulls the stop valve, extinguishes the fire with a fire extinguisher, and the second takes passengers out into the street from the back of the car (that is, from the opposite direction from the opposite direction).

The conductors also check the bearings with which the carriage bogie clings to the wheelset. If they overheat, the car can derail. At a stop lasting more than 15 minutes, we must check their temperature with the back of our hand - there are eight points with bearings on the carriage. In case of overheating while driving, the system notifies the conductor with a squeak. According to the instructions, in this case, you need to pull the stop valve, but no one does this. A stop-cock is an extreme measure, after using it you need to fill out a bunch of papers, write a few explanatory notes, and if in the end it is established that there were no grounds for stopping the train, then you will be fired. Therefore, usually, when alerting the system, I called the train electrician. As a rule, he grumbled that "in these old cars everything is always through the ass," and turned off the warning system.

Russian Railways has a lot of old cars. They say that the deadliest trains are sent to the Urals and to the South. But in fact, there is no such pattern - it all depends on the reserve that serves a particular direction. I have never worked at the Kazan reserve, but according to rumors I know that we used to have good wagons and trains, and then they all moved to the Moscow reserve and everything old remained in Kazan. Flights Kazan - Moscow are formed in Moscow from new cars, and for flights that are formed in Kazan, outdated equipment remains. For comparison: the Nizhny Novgorod reserve (it, for example, forms the Kazan - St. Petersburg flight) is very good (therefore it cannot be said that only Muscovites are lucky).

"It happened that we manually bled out the contents of the toilet to clear the blockage."

Fortunately, there were no serious technical problems with the cars in my life, except that the dry closet was clogged. Passengers manage to throw everything there, down to socks and rags. And once I had a fight with a carriage cleaner. He did the job poorly - in some places after him it became even worse than it was. I did not sign the cleaning document, that is, I left him without earnings. In the end, he threw his sock into the dry closet, relieved it, and completely spat on nine compartments.

In new cars, dry closets are automatic and can be simply reloaded. If this does not work, an electrician is called in and he disassembles the device. It happened that we manually scooped out the contents of the toilet to clear the blockage. But the worst thing is that both bio and ordinary toilets freeze in winter, so they have to be filled with boiling water every hour. In general, there are many holes in the carriage - these are sinks drains, titanium drains (apparatus for boiling water). And they all need to be spilled hot.

Winter work has its own specifics. You need to heat the car, and this is hard. All non-branded trains are still fueled with coal, and you can be given very poor quality coal that hardly burns. Coal is stored in the vestibule, in special pockets. The flight is given 20-25 buckets, but if the winter is cold, you may need twice as much. In winter, all the guides walk with black cracked hands. But on the other hand, those who work on holidays have a higher salary: in two weeks you can get a monthly summer sum.

Passengers: bad, good, kids

The conductor is the face of the company, we are the first and often the only representatives of Russian Railways that a passenger encounters. It is important to make a good impression even upon landing - to say hello, to help with things; then at the beginning of the flight, walk along the train and talk politely with everyone. My experience tells us: the guide gives all the best in the first two hours of the flight, then the impression that you made works for you.

I singled out several types of passengers for myself: young people under 30 years old (you can always negotiate with them), grandmothers (they behave with you the same way you treat them), redneck men (it is difficult with them: they smoke, drink, do not listen and swear), families (as a rule, are closed on themselves). I do not like those who impose themselves as friends and sit on their ears. They can come for tea and get stuck in your compartment for an hour - but you cannot send. Moreover, most often they count on some kind of privilege (as a rule, permission to smoke). Some - especially the girls - almost sit in the service compartment to chat, although this is prohibited.

My usual approach was: smoke and drink, but don't disturb others. Allowed to smoke in the vestibule during one minute stops. But people tend to abuse their trust. Once I had a conflict with two bullies: one was running around smoking all the time, I made remarks to him, even threatened him with the head of the train; then the second came up, began to threaten and take me on the phone. Then I saw that my business card had disappeared from the door of my compartment, and tea products had disappeared from the table. Of course, we called the police, but then it turned out that the bullies themselves were from the authorities, and they didn’t do anything. It is still a shame from such impudence. True, the badge was returned to me.

One summer, on a flight to Sukhum, a man was actively making friends with me. He wrote me thanks in the book of reviews and suggestions, bought tea products for a good amount and, of course, drank a lot (but did not row). In the south, there is a five-hour sanitary zone along the sea and one hour control on the border between Abkhazia and Russia - I warned everyone in advance so that people could go to the toilet. The man was asleep at that time and woke up already during the inspection of the train by the border guards. He asked to go to the toilet, but I could not help him in any way. Then he found a five-liter bottle, did all his business there (everything happened quite loudly in the vestibule - the passengers understood what was happening) and returned to the place exactly to the entry into the carriage of the border guard officers. When the train started, my partner freaked out and said that we shouldn't go after him - let him take everything with him. To my surprise, the man easily agreed. So I went to Gagra, holding out my hand with the package in which we hid his bottle.

I've always tried to keep my distance from passengers, but two or three days' travel romances are common practice. This often happens to young girls-guides, especially when they see beautiful broad-shouldered demobels. Once I was carrying a carriage of demobels. They all the way drunk unrestrainedly - I don't even know how it is possible to have time to strike up a romance in this situation. My task was reduced to the role of a teacher - to collect bottles on time, to make sure that no one began to puke and walk under him, in extreme cases to take passengers to the toilet and push out passengers at the necessary stops with things (which was not easy: they did not want to get away from such fun) ... It was still difficult to transport cadets of one secret security force - the carriage was empty, they occupied two compartments and all the way they drank and shouted Allegrova's songs in a hard way. Littered the whole car!

But worst of all are the children who go to the South. The adults accompanying them do not care, so they are left to their own devices. After them, a heap of garbage in the most unexpected places - on the third shelf, under the pillowcase of the mattress and pillow, in the luggage compartment. And once the children's group all at once decided to wash their heads in the toilet and used up the entire supply of water in the car. It takes eight hours to get to the nearest gas station, and there is no water anywhere: empty titanium, empty toilets and sinks. And so we drove - the whole car had to run to the next one.

Once a 14-year-old boy from an orphanage went out to a store in the parking lot for vodka. The cops grabbed him, and the escorts came to their senses only two hours later. They put him in a catch-up train, and we had to drive slowly, behind schedule. We picked it up after a couple of hours. But that doesn't happen often. A lagging passenger is a lot of paperwork. According to the instructions, the conductor with two witnesses must describe his property and hand over to the head of the train. Then either the passenger catches up with the train, or at the next station we give his things to the assistant on duty of the head of the station.

The secret life of the conductor and the secrets of the dining car

Russian Railways does not allocate money for food guides - they buy everything themselves. Usually my partners and I went to some "Auchan" before the flight, and sometimes passengers leave their food. If it is not something suspicious or perishable, we accept. We take food that does not need to be cooked. Although on titanium it is quite possible: you put a small saucepan with porridge, potatoes, sausages or chicken on top (there is a convenient niche there) and wait. True, it will take a long time to prepare, up to 12 hours. But we have a refrigerator and a microwave - by the way, passengers can also use them.

At night, the conductor does not have much work - you read a book or a newspaper forgotten by the passenger. It is forbidden to leave the carriage at the stops, according to the instructions, but at long stops we still walked around the city. For example, in front of Murmansk there is the Olenegorsk station, where two-thirds of the passengers get off. Already there you start cleaning so that there is no more work left to the final station. And in Murmansk you go out into the city: go to a shop, a cafe, buy souvenirs or even go to a museum. Although, in general, there is nothing to do there at all, and in five or six hours of parking you have time to inspect everything.

Guides are most often lonely people working for slaughter. From flight to flight seven days a week. Their whole life is a railway, there are all their social connections, all the benefits and tricks. 60 percent of the conductors are drunken people. Once I was transferred to another train, because the conductor who was supposed to get on the flight came completely drunk. They also drink on the flight. By the way, conductors lag behind the train much more often than passengers (they either stay in the store or smoke for a long time). In this case, they are simply taken to the place on another train. They can even arrive before their composition - for example, if they board the Sapsan. However, I also met guides by vocation who worked from the heart and honestly. These are, as a rule, adult women 45-50 years old: they have to themselves, they have everything neat, clean and they themselves are kind. There are entire dynasties of guides on the railway - husband and wife, mother and daughter. On one train, the head of the train was a woman, whose husband worked there as an electrician, and her daughter as a conductor. They also took a dog with them.

Now I have an office job, but I constantly observe the guides from the side. In general, in my experience, the worst passengers are personnel guides. They cling to the staff, grumble, make endless remarks (“you haven't washed the floor,” “why is it so dusty,” “turn off the light,” “open the toilet,” and so on), they can even write a complaint - in general, they try to humiliate you and assert yourself. But in fact, not a single conductor works as written in the instructions - jambs can be found on everyone. I only make comments if the conductor is rude and tactless. And I also somehow got a "china" (it can be distinguished by the uneven seam of the bag and the smell, but the main sign is the absence of a piece of paper in the package with a list of the set of linen). I went up to the conductor and explained that I myself worked in the system and I know all their tricks. She, of course, turned blue, but immediately excused herself and changed the kit.

I miss the train and I would like to return to the conductors for at least a month. But all the same, this work was perceived as a student's - temporary, for the summer. Besides, in the last season I was paid little. Over the summer, the entire composition becomes your family. As a rule, in the summer, staff guides sit in the head and tail of the train, and in the staff car - in the rest of the composition of the students. We are still friends with many of those whom I met at that work. The coolest thing is to gather at one of the conductors in the compartment at night, drink tea and tell stories about passengers. You go and enjoy.

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The profession of a guide evokes ambivalent feelings. On the one hand, she is covered with a veil of romance: you can travel a lot and communicate with different people. On the other hand, there is a difficult schedule, insomnia, fulfillment of the sales plan and penalties for the slightest deviation from the rules.

We are in website studied many interviews and several blogs of guides who write about their everyday life, and decided to collect as many details from their lives as possible.

How it is to work as a conductor

• It is a mistake to think that a conductor is more of a female profession. In fact, there are approximately equal numbers of men and women among the employees.
• The number of days off depends on the route, but, as a rule, the conductor rests as long as he has been on the road for days.
• Taking a vacation in the summer is not encouraged, as there is usually a shortage of staff, therefore employees have a rest most often in the off-season.
• There is a saying among workers: "Not the guide who worked for a year, but the one who survived the winter"... The fact is that in winter you often have to work physically, which can be very difficult. It is necessary to clear the carriages of snow, remove the ice from the undercarriage equipment with scrap, maintain a comfortable temperature so that passengers do not freeze and the plan to save energy is fulfilled. Moreover, if the equipment breaks down or the car comes across an old one, it will have to be manually heated with coal. Yes, all the cars are still equipped with coal boilers.
• Usually, railway employees do not have to choose whether or not to celebrate the New Year at work... There is a clear schedule and schedule. True, many say that there is nothing wrong with celebrating a holiday at work. However, on New Year's Eve, you will have to do without the usual sparklers. They are strictly prohibited on the train due to fire safety rules, since according to the teachings, the carriage burns out in 8 minutes.

Tricks and tricks of the conductors

• Before the flight, each conductor is given tea products, the so-called tea: coffee, tea, snacks, chocolates, etc. All this is brought in large garbage bags, which the employee must disassemble, count the contents, check the expiration date. If something loses its presentation, for example, biscuits break or chocolate melts, the conductor must compensate the damage.
• Any item you buy on the train must have a special holographic sticker. However, conductors often sell not the products they gave out, but their own, bought in the nearest stores. Thus, all the money raised goes into their pocket. But, of course, this does not happen often, and only unscrupulous employees do this. By the way, to the left of the conductor's compartment there should be a printout with the entire assortment and prices.

• If you were given damp, crumpled laundry and there was no card in the bag about when and by whom it was packed, then most likely someone has already slept on it before you. In the slang of conductors, such a set is called "china", that is, linen that is reused. For example, a passenger has already got off the train, leaving behind a clean sheet and almost unused towel. These things are put aside, and then a complete "set" is assembled from them, which is sealed in cellophane with the help of any heated metal object and passed off as fresh. Of course, such frauds are strictly suppressed by the management, and in case of the slightest suspicion, the passenger can call the Russian Railways hotline, where he will definitely be helped.

• By the way, if you didn't buy a set of linen, you will not be able to use the mattress and pillow on the train, even if you took your bed with you. If a check comes and finds that the passenger is lying on a mattress without "official" bed linen, the conductor will be fined.
• Since the conductors are financially responsible for everything, they must very carefully make sure that nothing is lost from the carriage, otherwise you will have to compensate everything from your pocket... Therefore, before accepting the carriage, the conductor must carefully check everything - from cup holders to blankets. Some conductors even tie on toilet brushes.