However increased demand is not the only boon working for the future of rail jobs. Job Monkey and similar sites that compile data on various industries claim that many railroad workers are due to retire in the coming years, opening up new opportunities for fledging conductors, brakemen, engineers, and more. This is also good news for those currently working their way up the ranks who may be frustrated by the heavy importance placed on seniority.
What Does This Mean for Me?
It means that, whether you are looking to stay a conductor for years to come or transition quickly into an engineering role, you’ve got a place at the railroad. Between healthy unions and a steadily increasing demand, conductors should be around for quite some time.
A Case Study: The Long Island Rail Road
Since my son Bryan is approximately four years into his conductor career with the Long Island Railroad, I reasoned that the LIRR would be an appropriate case study regarding the conductor hiring process.
The Long Island Railroad is a commuter rail system in southeastern New York, stretching from Manhattan to the eastern tip of Suffolk County on Long Island. With an average weekday ridership of 337,800 passengers in 2014, it is the busiest commuter railroad in North America. It is also one of the world's few commuter systems that runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, year-round. It is publicly owned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, who refer to it as MTA Long Island Rail Road. There are 124 stations, and more than 700 miles of track, on its two lines to the two forks of the island and eight major branches, with the passenger railroad system totaling 319 miles route.
Hiring Practices
The hiring of LIRR assistant conductors and conductors is carried out through an extensive assistant conductor pre-hire qualification process and training program. The conductor position is a promotional opportunity from the LIRR assistant conductor position. Applicants from outside the agency must apply for and serve as LIRR assistant conductors prior to promotion to conductor.
Individuals, who have conductor experience from other railroads, are hired as assistant conductors and are required to go through the assistant conductor training program. This is due to the information that is unique to the LIRR equipment, revenue, operating rules and physical characteristics. There are also union requirements regarding conductor seniority and roster position.
The minimum qualifications for assistant conductors and conductors are the same, the most definitive being a High School Diploma, with cash handling experience, customer service experience, and some college preferred. Additionally, conductors must have a minimum of two years of LIRR assistant conductor experience prior to appointment. Based upon need, the LIRR management requires assistant conductors to qualify as conductors. Conductors are required to pass additional written and practical tests. The LIRR Human Resources and Transportation Departments generally hold two or three open house meetings for assistant conductor applicants every year. Applicants are recruited through notices in local metropolitan area newspapers, the MTA and LIRR websites and other LIRR employees. Approximately 40 percent of those eventually hired are LIRR employee referrals.
The three hour open house sessions provide an overview of the responsibilities and training required of an assistant conductor. A video, “Miracle on 34th Street”, is shown to applicants to introduce the totality of railroad operations. LIRR staff conducts fifteen minute exploratory interviews with applicants to go over individual resumes and applications as well as experience with customer service and cash handling. The staff also administers math and vocabulary tests. Of the 400 invitations sent to attend the open house, approximately 260 people attend. Of those attendees, roughly two hundred pass the pre-qualification requirements.
The second step of the application process is a general background check to verify application information, determine employment reliability and credit worthiness. About 100 of the applicants usually make it through this step.
For the third step, applicants are invited to a formal interview with a panel of two LIRR managers, one from Human Resources and one from the Transportation Department. Real life scenarios are presented to applicants to see how they would handle certain situations. Applicants are also asked to write an essay about how they would relate to customers. Roughly 60 out of the 100 applicants are invited to proceed.
The fourth step is a one day course, held on a Saturday, which includes signal and railroad rules. Applicants are asked to return a month later to take a test on the material.
The next step in the process was recently changed. Previously, the fifth step began the first phase of the formal assistant conductor training program, administered jointly by the Human Resources and Transportation Departments. Human Resources Department staff presented the material and Transportation Department staff administered tests and regularly evaluated the trainees. Applicants were not paid to take the course, which was held two weekday evenings and a full day on Saturdays over 15 or 16 weeks. The course covered ticket selling, the book of rules, the air brake and information required under federal and state government regulations, such as CPR training and emergency preparation. The importance of customer service was stressed throughout the course. Trainees who completed the course successfully were hired by LIRR and continued with phase two of the training (four weeks). Presently, all training is conducted after hiring. Trainees are required to pass a physical exam prior to hiring, before commencing an eleven week full time training course as salaried employees. As illustrated in the prior hiring steps, a pool of approximately 400 candidates ends up being whittled down to the normal sized training class of 25 trainees.
Supervisory Structure and Job Responsibilities
As of January, 2017 there are approximately 300 assistant conductors and 1050 conductors working at the LIRR. Assistant conductors and conductors are directly supervised by 28 transportation managers.
On-train personnel, exclusive of the engineer, always include a qualified conductor and an assistant conductor as a minimum. The assistant conductor on-train position may be filled by an assistant conductor or qualified conductor. Assistant conductors and qualified conductors may also be assigned to work as ticket collectors on specific trains or specific trip segments, as needed. In this capacity, assistant conductors or conductors collect passenger tickets and do not function as conductors. All three train service personnel positions are directly supervised by the 28 transportation managers. The transportation managers, a first level non-union management position, are responsible for the day to day transportation operations. In that capacity, the transportation managers supervise a range of personnel who are involved in these operations including: on-train personnel, assistant conductors, conductors, ticket collectors and engineers, in addition to assistant station masters, ushers and yardmasters. Each manager is typically responsible for 38 employees.
Transportation managers must have successfully completed a one year Transportation Department Management Development - Transportation Supervisor Training Program. This program is open to most Transportation Department operating personnel, but spaces in the program are available only as the need to replace transportation managers arises. This mentor type program prepares trainees for management and includes a rotation through different terminals and departments.
The Transportation Department managers report to nine lead field, functional or terminal managers, who manage a combination of field activities, key terminal locations and functional areas, such as the following of railroad rules. The nine lead transportation managers report to ten superintendents.
Training Practices
The training for assistant conductors covers ticket selling, the book of rules, the air brake and information required under federal and state government regulations, such as CPR training and emergency preparation. Additionally, several weeks are devoted to the train equipment. The course also includes one week of on-the-job mentored field experience supervised by the Transportation Department.
The assistant conductor train
ing program is taught by former LIRR conductors, who are certified technical trainers. The trainers are required to have been qualified LIRR conductors and have earned a technical training certificate.
While the eleven week training segment is mostly lecture, it is broken up with field visits, practical exercise and role playing techniques. The first two days of the training consist of the general orientation overview of LIRR given to all new Rail Road employees including diversity issues, equal employment opportunities and the federally mandated “Right to Know” safety training. The remaining weeks include a visit to the Ticket Receiver Department (which functions as the liaison between the Finance and Transportation Departments), familiarization with Penn Station and the West Side Yard, and discussions and lectures about fare collection. Also included is a focus on tunnel evacuation and meeting with the unions, and also a day is spent coupling and uncoupling the cars and engines and working the switches. Additional days are spent on revenue service trains for on-the-job training with the instructors.
Assistant conductor trainees spend the next week one-on-one with a mentor. Mentors are qualified conductors who have been chosen by the Transportation Department because of their consistent outstanding performance and absence of customer complaints. Many of the mentors who participate have benefited from the mentor program themselves. The mentors are sent a letter outlining the expectations for the day and a check list of items to be covered per given day. The mentor training focuses on making announcements on board trains, learning how to provide quality customer service and practicing operating procedures. Mentors evaluate trainee performance according to a standard evaluation form. After the week of mentoring, the trainees have four additional days of training, which cover crime intervention, familiarization with all the terminals and meeting the supervision staff, selecting job assignments and graduation. Final exams are administered to the trainees by the rules examiners for each portion of the training: the rules, air brake, ticket and passenger train emergency preparedness (PTEP). Those trainees who fail any of the required tests are immediately terminated. Bryan’s class lost three trainees throughout the training program, including a young lady who failed the test on the final day of class, which also happened to be her birthday.
The customer service portion of the training, integrated throughout the program, makes use of videos and role playing techniques to focus on topics, such as making announcements and helping customers to board and alight from the train. The final day of training concludes with a graduation ceremony and a motivational lecture about the importance of safety, communication and customer service.
All assistant conductors are required to qualify as conductors, between two and five years after initial assistant conductor qualification, as is stipulated in their labor agreement with LIRR. Failure to qualify as a conductor will result in the termination of employment.
The conductor training program consists of 21 days of training including topics, such as rules, physical characteristics, air brake and operating procedures in New York’s Penn Station. An additional five days are allocated to conductors for on-the-job mentor training to allow candidates to overcome their fear of being in charge and become comfortable with their new responsibilities. The mentor uses a standard form to evaluate the trainee’s performance.
Tests are given in each one of the specific topic areas. The assistant conductor trainee must pass all of the tests prior to promotion to conductor. I can tell you first hand from my experience coaching Bryan through his qualification, these tests are brutal. The amount of material that has to be memorized is staggering, and there is much more material included than in the eleven week initial training class. For example, the qualification includes a test on the physical characteristics of the railroad in which the assistant conductor has to draw the entire railroad. That’s right – every track, station, switch, and siding over the entire 700 miles of track. At least during the qualification testing it is not one and done. Assistant conductors can take a failed test six times before facing termination. However, upon the third failure the assistant conductor is taken out of service and takes the exam once each month until he passes or is terminated.
Conclusion: A Noble History
At the beginning of this book, we asked you to picture the conductor and we all imagined Ringo Starr at Shining Time Station. Let’s picture the conductor again. Only this time, let’s imagine the friendly late-night conductor on the Polar Express. It seems fitting that a story which seeks to combine comfort, coziness, and adventure should feature such a figure. In fact, it seems doubly fitting that railroad conductors are featured so prominently in children’s stories overall. We have also seen, however, that the conductor is so much more than a child’s fairytale character. The conductor ensures safe passage for millions of riders each day and is the first line of response to emergency situations. We must ask ourselves what it is about the railroad that speaks to the sense of adventure, wonderment, and security in all of us. If you are drawn to a career as a railroad conductor, then perhaps you already know. The life of the railroad conductor is a dichotomous one, balancing freedom and responsibility. It is a job for people who know how to wait and how to command respect. In short, it is both a symbol of a functioning society and a stark contrast to the regular 9-5 jobs that we, as members of such a society, are expected to get.
If train conducting is not your path, you should still be able to respect the role and what it has come to symbolize for children, America, and anyone who dreams of something different. Personally, I have developed the utmost respect for the job that these dedicated men and women perform, and even more respect for the efforts and studying they put forth to obtain their qualifications. Finally, I am indebted to the conductor profession and the railroad because it has provided me with a new interest and hobby. There are limits, however, to my newfound interest. You won’t find me standing on a station platform taking videos of the various locomotives. Not yet, at least.
Glossary of Terms
The following terms and companies are specific to the railroad industry and appear in the text. These do not include any of the jargon discussed in Chapter Nine.
Amtrak – A North American passenger train company that is also known as the National Railroad Passenger Corporation.
Assistant conductor – Answers to the conductor and helps perform various duties on passenger trains.
Automatic blocking signal (ABS) – An automated system for communicating on railroads that divides a rail line into blocks and controls rail movement to prevent collisions.
Ballast – Large rocky material that makes up the bedding around tracks.
Bidding – The process for appealing for a new position within a rail company. Conductors might bid on spaces in an engineering training program.
BNSF Railway – Second largest freight railroad company in North America
Brakeman – Men who would apply train brakes in the early days of the railroad. Now the position is a catch all position with various duties.
Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers – The first train union. It was founded in 1863. These days it is sometimes known as the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen.
Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen – A union founded in 1906. It has since merged with other rail unions and its constituents represented by SMART.
Brotherhood of Railway Brakemen – A union founded in 1883. It has since merged with other rail unions and its constituents represented by SMART.
Brotherhood of Railway Carmen – A union founded in 1890. It now exists as a division of the Transportation Communication International Union (TCU)
Bulk cargo – Unpacked cargo. Typically, it is a resource like coal or steel.
Bulletins – Brief statements or announcements that may contain information pertinent to a trip.
Caboose – The last car of a freight train where the conductor would stay. These are no longer in use except in rare circumstances.
Cargo �
�� The contents of a train (that which is being shipped).
Carmen – Essentially the maintenance men of the train. They are responsible for caring for the train cars.
Central Pacific Route – One of the two transcontinental railroad routes. This one stretched from
Sacramento, CA to Promontory Summit, Utah.
Common carrier – A rail line that can be rented out to private or public entities as opposed to being controlled and used by a single entity.
Conditional employment – A promise of employment contingent on the fulfillment of certain requirements.
Conductor – The “captain” of a train who is responsible for the schedule and the safety of all passengers, crew, and cargo.
Consignment note – A contact that details the specific conditions and shipping information regarding specific cargo.
Coupling – Attaching rail cars.
CSX – Third largest freight railroad company in North America.
Deadhead – A train employee who is hitching a ride on a train to get to a certain destination (usually home) without working on the train.
Derail – When a train detaches from the tracks.
Dispatcher – Facilitates train movement by communicating with conductors and, sometimes, engineers from a remote location.
Employment Fair – A gathering where prospective railroad employees are assessed and interviewed before being offered positions with the rail company.
Engineer – Also called engine drivers and train operators. They drive the train.
Conductor- The Heart & Soul of the Railroad Page 11