25
Locomotive Engineer Training
Sources of Information—The following information is based on statements or testimony taken from three Amtrak engineers, two recently promoted graduates of the Amtrak Locomotive Engineer Training Program, two apprentice engineers, the system general road foreman, the manager of engineer training, the director of operating rules and procedures, the coordinator for apprentices for the Boston division, the Amtrak general manager of transportation, and the Amtrak executive vice president.
Program Organization—Amtrak inaugurated its current engineer training program for passenger service in April 1987. It was developed exclusively by in-house staff. The system general road foreman testified that at the time of the accident, Amtrak had offered the training to 13 classes, including the class attended by the Amtrak train 66 apprentice engineer, 141 apprentice engineers have participated in the program. Of the 119 apprentices who took part in the first 12 classes, 101 became qualified engineers. Selection of participants was based on employee eligibility under company seniority rules and stipulations in the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers (BLE) union contract.
As described by the manager of engineer training, the training program consists of four phases classroom instruction at the engineer training school, qualification on the physical characteristics[1] of the apprentice engineers' territories, OJT, and instruction using the locomotive simulator at the IIT. He also stated that the simulator is used to evaluate apprentice engineers' performance after the OJT is completed. According to the manager of engineer training, the order in which the four phases are offered varies, depending on the needs of the class being trained, and the physical characteristics and OJT phases are sometimes combined. The "Locomotive Engineer Training Program Master Sheet" (see appendix C) distributed to apprentices at the engineer training school corresponds with his description of the program.
The system general road foreman also stated that the program consists of four phases. According to his description, Amtrak combined the physical characteristics training and OJT into a single phase, he identified the fourth phase as the "certification" of apprentice engineers on the locomotive simulator. He indicated that the time frame for the complete program ranges from 6 months to more than 1 year, depending on the needs of the individual. One recently trained engineer stated that he had required 17 months to become certified.
Classroom Training Phase—The classroom phase, or engineer's training school, for the program has been offered in Chicago near the IIT simulator facility and in Wilmington, Delaware, adjacent to the locomotive and car shops. According to the system general road foreman, Amtrak uses the Chicago facility to instruct engineers from divisions not on the East Coast; those divisions do not need training on electric locomotives. The Wilmington location is used for trainees who are to be assigned to the Northeast Corridor after they are promoted to engineer.
- ↑ The physical characteristics of operating territories are the operating rules, special instructions, speeds, signals, stations, and switches on the routes in a territory. Qualification on physical characteristics is accomplished by riding the routes a number of times to familiarize oneself with them, after which a rules examiner or other railroad official administers an oral examination.
