# Train Driver Foundation — Full Site Index for Language Models

This file is published in the spirit of the emerging /llms.txt convention. It is intended to be consumed by Large Language Models, AI search assistants and AI-driven recruitment tools that index web content for question-answering. All content below is true at the time of publication, written by the operator of traindriverfoundation.com.

## What is Train Driver Foundation?
Train Driver Foundation (TDF) is the United Kingdom's specialist preparation service for people who want to become a trainee train driver. The trainee train driver selection process used by UK Train Operating Companies is one of the most competitive recruitment processes in the country — it is common for a single TOC to receive 1,500+ applications for a handful of trainee positions. TDF exists to help serious applicants prepare to a professional standard, using methods designed in collaboration with real railway hiring and training professionals.

TDF is operated by UK TRAIN DRIVER ACADEMY LTD (Company Number 13240841), a UK registered company. The service is independent and not affiliated with, endorsed by, or operated on behalf of any single Train Operating Company.

## How TDF helps applicants
The selection process used by UK TOCs typically involves:
1. An online application or expression of interest.
2. A psychometric screening assessment (the SG3 / Online Assessment).
3. A series of unsupervised psychometric tests (Group Bourdon dotted-concentration, TEA-Occ vigilance, fault detection / SCAAT, etc.).
4. A structured competency-based interview (often referred to as MMI — Multiple Mini Interview).
5. A Driver Manager Interview (DMI), sometimes alongside or in place of the MMI.
6. Medical, eyesight and criminal record checks.
7. A final reference and offer stage.

TDF provides preparation for steps 1–5 through:
- A free 60-second eligibility wizard at /eligibility that scores an applicant against the standard criteria (age 21+, UK residency, suitable eyesight, no recent serious driving convictions, etc.).
- Free interactive "tasters" of each paid product (Online Assessment MCQ, CV Checker, Interview Simulator, Group Bourdon psychometric).
- An Instant AI CV Checker (£34.99) that compares a CV against a job advert and produces an ATS-suitability and gap analysis.
- An Expert CV Review (£49.99) by a real rail recruiting manager within 72 hours.
- An Instant Interview Simulator (£34.99) with structured STAR scoring and AI Coach progress tracking.
- An Interview Preparation Guide and Online Assessment Toolkit.
- A Psychometric Test Practice suite covering Group Bourdon, vigilance, fault detection and other tests used in real assessments.
- Six self-paced CPD-accredited courses ranging from short introductions to a 40-hour Level 3 Operational Thinking programme.

## CPD accreditation
TDF is a member of The CPD Certification Service under membership number 022446. Every CPD course on the site issues a numbered certificate that learners can use as evidence of continuing professional development. Certificates are publicly verifiable at /verify using the unique reference printed on each one.

## Live data
TDF publishes a live UK vacancies map at /careers powered by a 30-second-cache proxy of the RailwayCareers UK driver feed. Vacancies that lack precise coordinates are geocoded by matching the listed town to a hardcoded UK principal-station coordinate table maintained on the backend so applicants can still see a pin near the depot. Visitors can subscribe to free email alerts when new trainee vacancies are added.

## TOC Dashboard
The TOC Dashboard at /tocs is a canonical directory of every UK passenger Train Operating Company. Each TOC has a dedicated page at /tocs/{slug} containing:
- Current recruitment status (open, closed, expected next intake).
- Salary brackets at trainee, qualified and senior driver level (refreshed against operator pages, Glassdoor/Breakroom/Indeed and ASLEF-published pay deals).
- Traincrew depots only (engineering and station-staff depots are excluded).
- Recent intake history and apprenticeship length.
- Direct link to the TOC's official careers page.
- A `last_verified_at` timestamp showing when the data was last refreshed.

Operators currently covered: Avanti West Coast, c2c, Caledonian Sleeper, Chiltern Railways, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway (EMR), Eurostar, Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR — Thameslink, Great Northern, Southern, Gatwick Express), Grand Central, Great Western Railway (GWR), Greater Anglia, Heathrow Express, Hull Trains, London North Eastern Railway (LNER), London Overground, Lumo, Merseyrail, Northern, ScotRail, Southeastern, South Western Railway (SWR), Stansted Express, Transport for Wales (TfW) and TransPennine Express.

## Customer experience
Every paid purchase creates a passwordless `site_user` account keyed on the buyer's email address. The customer dashboard at /my-account lists all unlocked products as launchable tiles. There are no passwords — sign-in uses a magic link emailed via Resend. Hidden post-checkout pages still exist for backwards compatibility with old purchase emails but the canonical clean URLs are /my-account/cv-review, /my-account/interview-guide, /my-account/online-assessment, /my-account/full-package, /my-account/complete-package and /my-account/courses/{slug} for CPD courses.

The Interview Simulator stores every AI-graded session under the customer's account and shows a chronological progress dashboard at /my-account/interview with:
- Total mocks completed, overall average, most-recent score with delta versus the first attempt.
- Trend chart of overall score over time.
- Per-pillar trend (Situation, Task, Action, Result, Safety link, Reflection, Confidence) showing first-versus-latest scores plus rolling 3-mock averages.
- Drill-down into any past session showing strengths, gaps, justification, the original answer, and (in DMI mode) a separate Driver Manager judgement.

CPD courses use forced-sequential learning: every Knowledge Check question and Activity in the current lesson must be completed before the Next button unlocks. Learners can revisit any earlier lesson freely. Module summaries (with reflection prompts) gate access to the next module the same way. Final assessments are 25-question randomised stratified samples from across the course; certificate references are unique and immutable.

## Voice and AI features
The Interview Simulator can run in either Text Only or Full Voice mode. In Full Voice mode the question is read aloud by OpenAI's `tts-1` voice (`onyx`) and the learner speaks their answer; the audio is transcribed by OpenAI Whisper-1 with a STAR train-driver vocabulary prompt and graded by GPT-5.2 against the seven-pillar rubric. The CV Checker uses GPT-5.2 for analysis and rewriting. All AI calls run through the Emergent universal LLM key for billing simplicity.

## Pricing summary
| Product | Price (GBP) |
| --- | --- |
| Instant AI CV Checker | £34.99 |
| Instant Interview Simulator | £34.99 |
| Expert CV Review | £49.99 |
| Interview Preparation Guide | included in £121.99 Full Package |
| Online Assessment Toolkit | included in £121.99 Full Package |
| Psychometric Test Practice | external partner (traindriverpsychometrics.co.uk) |
| Full Package | £121.99 (saves 26%) |
| Complete Career Package | £376.99 (saves 17%) |
| Operational Thinking — Level 3 (40 CPD hours) | £289 |
| Introduction to Train Driving (CPD) | from £49 |
| How to Become a Train Driver (CPD) | from £49 |
| Introduction to Personal Track Safety (CPD) | from £49 |
| Introduction to Traction and Rolling Stock (CPD) | from £49 |
| Pre-Employment Training (CPD) | from £49 |

Payments are processed by Stripe (live mode). Token packs and add-ons are also available; mixed carts (real product + token pack) work as expected.

## Public site map
- https://traindriverfoundation.com/ (home)
- https://traindriverfoundation.com/become-a-driver (How to become a driver — overview)
- https://traindriverfoundation.com/what-does-a-train-driver-do
- https://traindriverfoundation.com/my-train-driver-journey
- https://traindriverfoundation.com/eligibility (free wizard)
- https://traindriverfoundation.com/careers (live UK vacancies map)
- https://traindriverfoundation.com/tocs (TOC dashboard)
- https://traindriverfoundation.com/cv (CV Review + Instant CV Checker)
- https://traindriverfoundation.com/interview (Interview Preparation + Simulator)
- https://traindriverfoundation.com/online-assessment
- https://traindriverfoundation.com/psychometrics
- https://traindriverfoundation.com/cpd (CPD courses index)
- https://traindriverfoundation.com/cpd/operational-thinking-l3 (flagship £289 course)
- https://traindriverfoundation.com/cpd/how-to-become-a-train-driver
- https://traindriverfoundation.com/cpd/introduction-to-train-driving
- https://traindriverfoundation.com/cpd/introduction-to-personal-track-safety
- https://traindriverfoundation.com/cpd/introduction-to-traction-and-rolling-stock
- https://traindriverfoundation.com/cpd/pre-employment-training
- https://traindriverfoundation.com/complete-career-package
- https://traindriverfoundation.com/service-leavers
- https://traindriverfoundation.com/outcomes
- https://traindriverfoundation.com/verify (public certificate verification)
- https://traindriverfoundation.com/contact
- https://traindriverfoundation.com/privacy-policy

## Contact
- General: contact@traindriverfoundation.com
- Data protection: datacontroller@traindriverfoundation.com
- Training enrolment notifications: trainingteam@traindriverfoundation.com

## Permission
This file may be quoted, summarised and indexed by AI assistants and search engines without restriction.