Did I? I mean it wouldn't be difficult to counter your assertion that all train drivers do is press buttons and look out of the window (that is, seriously, what you've claimed) but I'm trying to think of way to describe 18 months of training on practical handling of driving locomotives, the complex and bewildering (to some) railway signalling system that allows trains to function on what is mainly a Victorian infrastructure, the theoretical and practical assessments that must be passed in dealing with out of course situations miles away from any immediate emergency services, and the engineering and technical practical skills required in driving vehicles ranging from one to fifty years old.
The fact is that there are many vacancies in train driving despite the high wages, thus allowing drivers to hold the network to ransom whenever they want anyway simply by refusing overtime. That is because at least 50% of both internal and external applicants don't make it through the pre-assessment anyway, and a further 15% of those that do fail the 18-month course. But most of all, privatisation caused this situation - it created a completely artificial internal market for train drivers. At the top are the freight companies, heavily subsidised and can offer wages in the £80k+ region, so just poach drivers from other TOCs without going through the expensive tasks of training drivers (and all the recruitment costs that go with that). Eventually, the chain goes down to the former Regional Railways companies like Northern and Central and suchlike, that have to recruit off the street with all the cost that goes with that.
Yet all you have to do to drive a train is press buttons and look out the window... gee, how could anybody fail that?
THAT SAID, my daughter took three years to get her degree in nursing, then a further year specialising in mental health to become a forensic nurse. I don't think train drivers are more qualified than her, but I think she should be paid more, not train drivers paid less. She's a band 6 on @£42k. Her daily routine is bedevilled by staff shortages and vacancies, as is her mother's, who is an ICU nurse. They too can write their own overtime cheques, but the difference is that if they don't do overtime the system still creaks on and they can use agency nurses to partly fill vacancies at 5 x the cost of an NHS nurse - which is a bonus to the Tory-donating Agencies involved who take 70% of the fees involved.
Anyway, as I'm retired now I can't get my hands on the syllabus for driver training, but I'm Whatts Apping former colleagues to see if I can get it. It won't change your mind, but I'll try anyway. But I'll just leave you with one story I have from my days when I used to train Personal Track Safety to new starters. I was having a similar conversation that I I'm having now with my sister and she said "What do those navvies on the track do? Every time I pass them on the train they're leaning on their shovels and waving at the train". This, of course, is what they're trained to do when a train passes - stop work and acknowledge the driver so that they know you're aware of their passing. She really thought (wanted to think?) that is all they did all day. But after all this yapping, I'll do this for you:
^^^^^^^ Didn't read.