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http://www.sltrib.com/2004/Jul/07042004/business/180807.asp SUNDAY July 04, 2004 Railroad industry determined to remain on track By John Eckber Gannett News Service Reports of the demise of the railroad freight industry appear to be premature. In fact, U.S. railroads say they expect to hire 80,000 workers before the end of the decade. Though total track-miles have fallen from 319,000 in 1970 to 170,000 last year, that decline has not led to a corresponding swoon in rail transit. In fact, companies are increasingly turning to railroads to move material: * Highway congestion and new federal regulations restricting the hours that truck drivers can remain behind the wheel are making less-congested rail lines a viable alternative. * As fuel prices continue to soar -- threatening to force trucking companies to raise their fees -- railroads are more attractive as an economical way to long-haul goods to many markets. Of course, once in a location, trucks still have to be called on to get most goods to a final destination. * As operating costs rise for trucking companies, manufacturers and wholesalers are looking for ways to trim their bottom-line transportation costs. All of which mean that trains as a player in the market supply chain are growing in importance -- and so is demand for people to manage the flow of freight. "Every company is looking for better [profit] margins because that goes right to [the] bottom line. What we have are the rails of the country undergoing a renaissance," said Gary Sease, spokesman for CSX Transportation Inc. The Jacksonville, Fla.- based railroad unit of CSX Corp. employs 34,000 in 23 states and two Canadian provinces. Despite the pressures on trucking, that industry, too, continues to benefit from the nation's recovering economy and its volume of goods is rising as well, said Mike Gorman, a transportation expert and professor of management information systems, operations management and decision sciences at the University of Dayton. But a federal hours-of-service law, which reduces the time a driver can drive from 12 to 10 hours, went into effect Jan. 1 and has tended to curtail the movement of goods by trucks. "Truck drivers are in short supply anyhow, so that further limits the supply. With the new rule, every truck trip takes a little longer and the law means that drivers are, well, busy resting instead of busy driving," Gorman said. Railroads offered an average salary of $61,895 in 2003, according to the Association of American Railroads. Locomotive and freight car maintenance specialists earn an average of $48,853, while conductors earn an average of $67,128 and locomotive engineers earn an average of $75,162 and peaks at $110,000. Josh Williams, 22, came to the Butler County, Ohio, training center of AMDG Inc., a private school that trains people to be railroad workers, about five weeks ago to learn to be a conductor. "My grandfather worked on the railroad for 30 years. I've kind of lucked into this and decided it would be a real good career," said the former telecommunications major at Lincoln Trail, a junior college in Robinson, Ill. "They said within five years I could be promoted to engineer. And that's maybe a $50,000 job. You work extra, maybe it's $100,000."
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