What are the relative pay scales on today's railroads? Is engineer or conductor higher? Do Class I railroads all pay about the same? Are the Class I railroads paid higher than Class II railroads? Where does Amtrak fall in the pay scales? How many years does it take to max out pay? Is pay calculated on time or mileage? Does weight have any bearing anymore (like the old steam engines)? Thanks.
Dont have a current sheet with pay scales on it. At any rate, the collective bargaining agreement expired 12/31/04 at midnight. Negotiations are at a standstill due to a lawsuit filed by the UTU against the carrier representative. Engineers pay scales are normally higher than Conductors, but due to seniority,job and other factors many conductors earn more than engineers. The pay scales depend on whether or not the carrier(regardless of Class) has a collective bargaining agreement with any unions. If its a non-union shop, the carrier will pay you whatever they want and you choose to work under those conditions. AMTRAK pays just about the same as the freight carriers. They have different mileage standards and arbitraries. Another contingency is if they bargain collectively with the NCCC or negotiate separately. There is not really any "timetable" of earning ability anymore. There used to be a sliding % scale whereas a new trainman hired out at 75% of scale and then progressed to 100% within 5 years.(unless local agreements stated otherwise). Engineers are normally hired by promotion from a trainmans slot. You are not hired"off the street" as an engineer. Most operating employees are paid on a mileage basis although some carriers have bargained an hourly rate. The BNSF has tried a scam on the last contract to pay "trip rates" but that scheme is not widespread due to local opposition. Some carriers pay a "weight on drivers" arbitrary but it is actually a "number of axles", and is not all that much! Hope I helped you somewhat. Maybe somebody else has the pay scales. I have an old one,but it is wholly irrelevant. I am just waiting to see if the Brotherhoods can finally "call the bluff" of the carriers. The BNSF dispatchers did just that last year when they unilaterally walked off the job in Ft.Worth and tied up the whole railroad. Now the company will listen to them! I suspect that more of that will be happening and I will support the rank and file fully. CT
Thanks, CT. It was an "I was just wondering" type question and I wasn't really looking for the exact pay rates.
Along these same lines, how do you log time on the railroad? Is it done mechanically or do you just look at the clock and write it down, call in, etc.? (I had asked somewhere else, but I can't find it now. )
Flash, We have what's called a TRO-Q.It's basicly a log.Very close to a trucker log.You have to write down : Where started & ended Date & Time started & ended Hrs. & mins. worked Job # We're only allowed 12hrs continuous.Unless an emergency is declared. There are other loopholes to work longer than the 12 hrs. [ July 13, 2005, 09:09 PM: Message edited by: SecretWeapon ]
Would these be similar to trucking- Where they can rest two hours, then drive an additional time before they must take rest? Boxcab E50
If you work 12 hours and go "dead" on time you must be allowed at least 10 hours rest.We get paid on a trip rate basis where I work out of for the NS.We do still get overtime and some arbituaries that aren't figured in the trip rates.Yes new hires are still brought on at 75% pay.But with every advancement they recieve a 5% bonus on the pay scale.SO when they hire out they are at 75% as a student.They when they get marked up as a Conductor they get 5% bonus which takes them to 80%.They will stay at the 80% for 2 years or until another promotion is taken within that time.It is basically on a time scale that you can't get to 100% pay until you have been marked up for at least 5 years. Engineers usually make more than Conductors.Espicially with the arbitraries they get.
Is railroading still a senority game??I worked for the old S.P. out of roseville,just after getting out of the ARMY .(PFE)for a year then got layed of when fright went down,then re-hired when fright went up,this went on for about two and a half years,In those days you might have to go 5 years or more to become perm.(1963 to 1965)I finely went back in the ARMY and stayed to retirement (1982)
Yes everything is done on a seniority basis for promotions except for management.But they won't have to worry about my name in that hat.
Would these be similar to trucking- Where they can rest two hours, then drive an additional time before they must take rest? Boxcab E50 </font>[/QUOTE]Exactly,only it's 4 hrs. of rest.
[][/QUOTE]Exactly,only it's 4 hrs. of rest. [/QB][/QUOTE] This is a split rest which is fairly common in commuter train service. The last job I was holding regularly had approx. a 5 hour layover between the 1st and 2nd trips. It was a job that was 2 RT. The 2nd,3rd and 4th legs were all accomplished in about 4 1/2 hours. The "respite" time began from the time the train arrived until the next scheduled departure. On several occasions,and for whatever reasons, there were delays in getting the train out of Union Station to the coach yard for servicing. This had to be accomplished prior to 09:30 for us to be "legal", otherwise the job would go on continuous time and we would "outlaw" before our job was finished. When and if this would happen, a relief crew would be called to relieve us in Aurora(IL) at the end of run #2. This amounted to an "early quit". On a couple of occasions, I was set out as a flagman at a highway crossing due to crossing gate malfunctions during trip #1. Since this would be early in the AM, during rush hour, it might mean that the signal maintainers would have difficulty reaching my location to repair the damage or malfuntion. On these occasions I "lucked out" and went over the 09:30 threshold and was relieved early. A $400.00 dollar day and an early quit to boot. Gawd, I LOVE railroading!!!!!!!! CT
In yard service the engnr has a higher daily rate, however, the traincrew have agreements that pay extra for working shorthanded, backing up without a caboose /platformcar for over a mile.thus at the end of the shift the traincrew USUALLY make a few $$$more.
============ Yup, thats a good way to make extra $$$ on the BNSF if we were in a yard w/o car men we got an arbitrary for removing a marker if it was on a track that we had to switch. Short crew pay was standard in Chicago area, going more than 50 miles from your terminal would get extra $$$. Yard transfers also paid $$ There were ways to make money if you knew how and remembered the arbitrary. We could even make extra on suburban service as I posted earlier. Another way was on a "lap back". If for some reason the track we were on(in my area it was 3MT CTC)became unusable(train occupying block,welders handling emergency,crossover stalled,etc) this might necessitate a reverse move which might result in a "lap back" once we had passed the same station sign twice on that trip. Being set out as a flagman was ALWAYS welcome. Guys used to fight over it!!!! CT
