I thought some of you might find this interesting. Starting Monday of last week, Amtrak has been running "crew re-qualifications" over the CP up my way. That wouldn't be strange except the Adirondack isn't running right now because the border's closed. The idea is that the crews have to be certified for the territory they run every 350 days (why not 365?).
I'm also surprised at how many crews they have to re-qualify. They've ran 4 trains so far and they're running another one today, although due to covid they can only have two crew members at a time.
Do the guys who work and ride in the cars have to do this, or just the engineer/conductor?
If you want to see the video of this train in action, it premires Monday at 7:30 PM eastern time.
https://youtu.be/ffETGBn2m5w
Harrison
Homeschooler living In upstate NY a.k.a Northern NY.
Modeling the D&H in 1978.
Route of the famous "Montreal Limited"
My YouTube
A friend of mine (Lloyd Bill) now retired was a road foreman of engines at the Enola yard across the Susquhanna river from Harrisburg. He had to qualify the engineers and conductors that had Enola as there home terminal once each year for the entire division as REQUIRED by the FRA. Lloyd told me he was on the road frequently to keep all of the engineers and conductors qualified.
BOTH Conductor and Engineer are required to be qualified on the territories over which they operate. At least on CSX, and I aasume on the other Class 1 carriers, record of a person's qualifications and the dates they expire are kept within the Crew Management data system. Every time a person operates over a territory pushes their 'end date' for qualification from that exact date the required period.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
When tying up a job, we fill out a route operated page on the computer. It's the terminal to terminal run in segments. You X the boxes for the segments actually ran and leave blank any segments not run.
We've gotten away from using "qualified" for territories not operated on within the last 12 months. Once you've qualified on a specific territory, you retain the qualification. However, if you haven't operated on a territory for 12 months (used to be 6 months, is 5 months for some mountain territory, and the FRA may allow up to 24 months) then you're no long "familiar" with the territory. To operate when familiarity has expired, you need a pilot.
I'm qualifed on 4 directions out of my home terminal. But I'm only familiar going west. I would need a pilot for the other directions. Not that it doesn't stop them from trying to call me for other directions when the extra board is depleted and they need an engineer for those other directions. I say, "Sorry, not familiar east of highway 17." The reason this happens is Crew Management lets the "robot" (computer) handle much of the actual calling. We have 3 engineer road pools: RE33 goes west, RE34 goes east, RE35 goes north/south. When the extra board is toast and they need to go to the road pools, it starts out with the lowest pool number, which is the one I'm in, no matter where the job being called needs to go.
Jeff
Yeah right now due to FRA covid waivers conductors don't have to be qualified at all unless operating over mountain grade territory (one trip required over mountain grade) and engineers that arent qualified are allowed to run 40 mph if they are running active PTC and restricted speed without ptc.
safety first!!!
this is on my class 1 but I know another western road is the same.
You can go practically anywhere at restricted speed without a pilot.
jeffhergert You can go practically anywhere at restricted speed without a pilot. Jeff
Even I can go restricted speed without a pilot... by walking. THanks for all the info everyone, much appreciated.
jeffhergert When tying up a job, we fill out a route operated page on the computer. It's the terminal to terminal run in segments. You X the boxes for the segments actually ran and leave blank any segments not run. We've gotten away from using "qualified" for territories not operated on within the last 12 months. Once you've qualified on a specific territory, you retain the qualification. However, if you haven't operated on a territory for 12 months (used to be 6 months, is 5 months for some mountain territory, and the FRA may allow up to 24 months) then you're no long "familiar" with the territory. To operate when familiarity has expired, you need a pilot. I'm qualifed on 4 directions out of my home terminal. But I'm only familiar going west. I would need a pilot for the other directions. Not that it doesn't stop them from trying to call me for other directions when the extra board is depleted and they need an engineer for those other directions. I say, "Sorry, not familiar east of highway 17." The reason this happens is Crew Management lets the "robot" (computer) handle much of the actual calling. We have 3 engineer road pools: RE33 goes west, RE34 goes east, RE35 goes north/south. When the extra board is toast and they need to go to the road pools, it starts out with the lowest pool number, which is the one I'm in, no matter where the job being called needs to go. Jeff
Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.
Murphy SidingWell garsh, if they call you and you need a pilot, that would require 2 engineers for the run. They could just call the pilot and have him take the train. Problem solved and penny saved!
But that still leaves the original engineer "unfamiliar" with the route...
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tree68 Murphy Siding Well garsh, if they call you and you need a pilot, that would require 2 engineers for the run. They could just call the pilot and have him take the train. Problem solved and penny saved! But that still leaves the original engineer "unfamiliar" with the route...
Murphy Siding Well garsh, if they call you and you need a pilot, that would require 2 engineers for the run. They could just call the pilot and have him take the train. Problem solved and penny saved!
The need for pilots is always a bone of contention. The costs of the unqualified in operating trains was highlighted in the WSDOT derailment in Washington State that has been throughly discussed in its own thread.
A pilot can be any certified engineer. Usually another engineer. Usually off the extra board.
When an engineer needs to refamiliarize before allowed to mark up on a board, they may just place the engineer on a training board and place him/her with then use them on a train with next regular pool crew on the next train.
When they are calling someone who is not qualified on a run it's usually because noboby who is qualified is available. That means that nobody is available to be a qualified pilot either.
Mark Vinski
jeffhergert When an engineer needs to refamiliarize before allowed to mark up on a board, they may just place the engineer on a training board and place him/her with then use them on a train with next regular pool crew on the next train.
What percentage of the engineers on your road are female?
JPS1 jeffhergert When an engineer needs to refamiliarize before allowed to mark up on a board, they may just place the engineer on a training board and place him/her with then use them on a train with next regular pool crew on the next train. What percentage of the engineers on your road are female?
I couldn't say for the entire railroad. I only know the numbers for my seniority district. Percentage wise it's not significant for my area.
We currently have two female engineers. One has over 40 years in on the railroad. We had, during the time I've been here, 6 others that have left. A couple had a long time in and retired. Others left for unknown (by me) reasons. Well, one I know. She was in my engineer's class and passed away from illness.
We currently have 3 female conductors. There have been 6 or 7 others who've left for unknown reasons. One came out of managment (dispatching) and went back to it. For both crafts, not all were working at the same time.
I know there's few working on the Nebraska side. I know there were some on the Illinois side.
jeffhergert We currently have two female engineers. One has over 40 years in on the railroad. We had, during the time I've been here, 6 others that have left. A couple had a long time in and retired. Others left for unknown (by me) reasons. Well, one I know. She was in my engineer's class and passed away from illness. We currently have 3 female conductors. There have been 6 or 7 others who've left for unknown reasons. One came out of managment (dispatching) and went back to it. For both crafts, not all were working at the same time. I know there's few working on the Nebraska side. I know there were some on the Illinois side. Jeff
I know there's few working on the Nebraska side. I know there were some on the Illinois side. Jeff
Thank for your thoughful answer.
I know of a female Amtrak engineer who works out of Fort Worth. Apparently she got some grief when she qualified. I understand she put the boys in their place in no short order.
My question is not a hidden agenca. I just wondered.
Years ago we took the Southwest Chief from Chicago to LA. I had a scanner with me. For several hours the engineer was a woman. Her demeanor on the radio was calm, confident and professional; and she seemed to have a good relationship with the dispatcher.
At least one of the Amtrak engineers through central NY is a woman. As LO mentions, purely professional.
I remember years ago an article in Trains about a couple of the first female engineers (maybe even the first). Quite the event then, even a novelty, now, not so much.
We have about three dispatchers up here on the CP north end, and one of them is a woman. She only seems to work when the other two aren't available though. I think she probably works somewhere else regually, because she doesn't seem to know the territory well. Just an opservation.
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