Working as a Renfe machinist: more than 50,000 euros in salary after spending 15,000 on a course

Renfe train drivers have been in the news in recent weeks due to the strike called that has reduced the service of several connections. Last week, unions and the company reached an agreement to put an end to this situation, which had been initiated by the demands on the reduction of the workforce.

Until then, Renfe had alluded to the situation of the pandemic to excuse itself about the lack of entry of new driversHowever, they must go through a lengthy selection process that is also costly economically.

This is the selection process to be a Renfe driver

It is not easy, neither in time nor in money, to become a Renfe driver. To begin with, deben cut with a driver’s license. On the website of the public company, they inform about several centers where this training can be carried out, which between practices and exams can be between 15,000 and 20,000 euros.

Once with the driver’s license, the applicants can now oppose the selective processes that Renfe opens and they consist of a psychotechnical exam and another for driving and practical regulation.

With the opposition approved, the applicants already get their place if they exceed the cut-off mark for that year and, later, they can consolidate it over the years, becoming, yes, Renfe’s own machinists. Otherwise, they become drivers in the reserve who receive a much lower benefit and remain on the company’s job bank.

How much does a Renfe driver charge?

To get an idea, drivers without a seat can charge from 850 to 1,000 euros per month at least, compared to 24,000 per year for drivers that have a place and those who are definitely Renfe’s own machinists, who He has a salary of around 3,200 euros a month plus supplements.

All this process means that the opposition to Renfe has a lot of competition, but in turn the selection process takes a long time, which had an impact on the complaints of the strike promoted by the union.

The SEMAF union has insisted that currently the railway services presented “A deficit of 861 fewer trains per day, compared to a similar day in 2019.” These figures, according to the union organization, suppose “25,830 fewer trains per month and 309,960 fewer trains per year.” “A service that the company had deteriorated taking advantage of the COVID 19 pandemic, and that it did not intend to recover,” they have criticized.

Along these lines, they have criticized the operator for having “drawn the strategy of removing trains to eliminate personnel and without workers no longer recovering the trains.” “They have even left populations without any service,” they stressed.