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[Anonymous]

I'm trying to get some information on two of the railroad companies, CSX and UP. I don't know much about the train industry, especially the political and business side of things. I just left Chicago after going to a testing and interview session with CSX for a train dispatcher position. I'm also going to apply for the same position with UP. I have two friends that work at CSX and one friend in school for UP. They would probably be somewhat biased in their answers, so I figured this would be the place to start.

Basicly, which company is better to work for. Pay wise, I think CSX is on top, though I'm not sure by how much. Are either one of the companies more stable than the other? If companies do merge or one gets bought out, does the other company tend to honor the union contract? Do they come in and restaff with their own people and lay off the "old staff"? Any other insight into either of the two would be helpful.

[Anonymous]

You could log onto their respective corporate sites -- uprr.com and csx.com -- and download a .pdf version of the two companies' 2004 Annual Reports. Neither road had a really winning year last year, but you can get some idea of corporate priorities in terms of what each RR (or holding company for RR) considers the most important--improving infrastructure, adding infrastrucure (usually track miles), appealing to shippers, and so on. Annual Reports are very stereotyped in form so, Enron notwithstanding, you shouldn't expect to find lies, but be wary of what they DON'T tell you. This doesn't make them bad places to work, but you might also want to download the BNSF 2004 Annual Report, by contrast, to see a road that had a great 2004 and is much more expansive in its plans and schemes, so to speak.

I'm not suggesting your research all be on the corporate side--far from it. But it's a good way to get started on the basics.

As for pay scales and labor practices, I'm not sure who would be willing to share such information--maybe other readers here have some ideas?

allen smalling

[Anonymous]

I'm surprised that, over the course of two days, you're having trouble soliciting experiences and opinions! You might consider posting a thread similar to this on Trains Magazine/Railroads, as it seems to get a lot more viewers than trains.com.

[Anonymous]

I'd a lot rather live in Jacksonville than Omaha. Other than that thw two should be about the same.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, I've also posted this on railroadforums.com with some pretty good feedback on the issue. Thanks again.