Employment Perspectives at AMTRAK?

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Your welcome, remember to keep on applying, that's what i am doing and you never know, two months ago i was emailed by the MTA Long Island Railroad to take the Exams from Florida yep from Florida, so i went up to New York City by train to take the exams, i didn't pass unfortnally, but i am not giving up on my goals.

I will be a Passenger Engineer thats my Career Goal, I will learn how to drive an Acela, HHP8, P42 Genesis, ACS, High Speed Rail, etc, for a living, and i will get myself into Amtrak no matter what, Amtrak is my future Employer and i am going to make myself and my mama proud, that i can help my mama.
 
I have been applying for various on board and customer service positions at Amtrak for the past several months now. The central question that I have is that there is not a listing on any of the job descriptions about how many hours you are guaranteed to work each week for: Station Clerk (Customer Service Representitive) at a small town station on the Northern Plains in the Amtrak system and for other positions such as Train Car Attendant.. Potential Amtrak employees need to know this information so they can know that they pay their bills after relocated to a small town or a large metropolitan area. Please share your experiences. Also ideas as to why that is not listed?
 
What benefits does Amtrak provide for their employees that are also reservists? Do they allow them to go for their month of training without sacrificing vacation time? Do they give some type of seniority bonus for active-duty time? Do they guarantee their job will still be there if they are called to active duty?
 
blueman271 said:
What benefits does Amtrak provide for their employees that are also reservists? Do they allow them to go for their month of training without sacrificing vacation time? Do they give some type of seniority bonus for active-duty time? Do they guarantee their job will still be there if they are called to active duty?
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Questions 2-4, Yes, No, and Yes.
 
From what I understand, it is far easier to get in with Amtrak as a Trackworker. I am not sure if these positions come up often, but I personally know of very young and inexperienced people getting hired. This is as recent as two years ago. This position is not very glamorous, you will get moved around a lot, and you fully expect to be furloughed. However, this is the easiest way to get your foot in the door. Within approximately six months of being hired you can start to bid on internally posted positions.

The pay is decent, and there is often overtime available. This is a labor-intensive position, so don't apply if you've never done manual labor or are not familiar with being on production. That's about all the information I have. Hopefully it helps someone out.
 
There are alot of older empoyees that are retireing right now. Here in Seattle this month and next month between the clerks and mechanical there are 6 people retireing. Most with 30-40 years of service.
 
I'm in Baltimore doing my research about a position on the RR. I found out about this from a friend who is a newly hired Assistant Conductor. My biggest challenge is my obligations to my family with an 11 year old 3-sport Son and I'm really not willing to sacrifice my involvement in his education and activities.

Is it true that, after the training, it is possible to work "in the yard" out of Washington, DC and not have the same work demands of being an actual Assistant Conductor who spends time away?

Thanks in advance for any help you can give on my options. I know that might mean trashing the whole idea but I just want to do my research to try.
 
Baze said:
I'm in Baltimore doing my research about a position on the RR. I found out about this from a friend who is a newly hired Assistant Conductor. My biggest challenge is my obligations to my family with an 11 year old 3-sport Son and I'm really not willing to sacrifice my involvement in his education and activities.

Is it true that, after the training, it is possible to work "in the yard" out of Washington, DC and not have the same work demands of being an actual Assistant Conductor who spends time away?

Thanks in advance for any help you can give on my options. I know that might mean trashing the whole idea but I just want to do my research to try.
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There is no guarantee of that, and the probability is very slight. Most asst. Conductor jobs are hired for road positions in Wash. DC. In fact, I think they have a separate seniority roster for the "yard" in DC, which rarely contains new people.
 
Can you apply for other job openings outside the area you live in or not?
 
Hello all....

I was invited to a testing session in Chicago next week for an Assistant Conductor position for Denver, and wanted to know if anyone could throw a little info my way as what type of tests they administer, and how I could prepare for them? Thank you all, and any info regarding this particular craft would be most helpful.
 
bdriver said:
Hello all....

I was invited to a testing session in Chicago next week for an Assistant Conductor position for Denver, and wanted to know if anyone could throw a little info my way as what type of tests they administer, and how I could prepare for them? Thank you all, and any info regarding this particular craft would be most helpful.
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IIRC, the testing will involve some mathmatics as well as situational scenarios asking how you would handle such a situation.

As to the job, You will be spending lots of time away from home in hotels, working most all holidays, dealing with the public, and at first be on call for work 6 days a week, amongst other things.

However, once you get past training, the job pays well and has decent benefits.
 
Thanks for the info OBS. I am looking forward to the testing, but I am also nervous at the same time. I'm going to brush up on some fractions and percentages... just to be better prepared. As a current bus operator, I have had my share of experiences with less than favorable characters, so customer service is quite vast for me. Again, thank you for your input.
 
Btw... if I do get chosen to work out of Denver, would the pay allow me to live comfortably in that area? I know that I won't get rich, but would I be able to afford a place to live on a Assistant Conductor salary?
 
I start my training next week in Wilmington. Happiest day, but very nervous. Any words of advice or encouragement.
 
I'd like to know if it's possible to live in Philly and work out of NY, Harrisburg, DC as a conductor? Is it possible to park at 30th street or Wilmington DE hop the train then work out of those places?
 
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