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extent possible, Amtrak should develop visual displays of territory, operating scenarios, and train equipment for future simulations that represent actual operations.
The Safety Board is also concerned that Amtrak is using only simulations of train operations as the final qualification procedure in the engineer training program. The Safety Board believes that in addition to any simulator evaluation deemed useful, final qualification of a passenger train engineer should currently include evaluations of all his or her operating tasks. These tasks should be performed on all equipment the engineer will be expected to operate and over all territories on which he or she has been qualified.
Additionally, the Safety Board believes that Amtrak's use of simulators for both training and evaluation should include emergency procedures, such as emergency braking and its effect on stopping distances. The current IIT simulations for Amtrak do not reproduce such tasks or conditions. If emergency braking and related operating procedures are not incorporated into future training classes, apprentices will continue to advance to passenger train engineer without having experienced the effects of making an emergency braking application.
Training and Qualifications for Instructing Engineers—Amtrak did not provide special training for the locomotive engineers who were to serve as instructors during the physical characteristics familiarization and OJT phases. No engineer questioned during the investigation reported receiving information about how to teach or evaluate the apprentices. The Safety Board believes that all engineers who participate in instructional activities should receive intensive training in their teaching and evaluation tasks.
In addition, the Safety Board believes that engineers performing two tasks (instructing apprentices and operating equipment) simultaneously while operating trains is a training issue that has a direct bearing on passenger safety. Safety Board investigators learned that Amtrak has no systematic way of selecting engineers to serve as instructors. When Amtrak inaugurated the program, management paired apprentices with engineers for physical characteristics familiarization and OJT. More recently, however, the selection of an instructing engineer has frequently been left to the discretion of each apprentice.
The previous instructional experience of the Amtrak train 66 engineer notwithstanding, his record included two offenses that might have disqualified him from serving as an OJT instructor if a record of no operating offenses had been required. Even if less restrictive standards had been applied, the engineer might not have qualified as a supervisor of OJT because he apparently tended toward distraction while operating a train, that tendency had resulted in one of his rules violations. Although Safety Board investigators were unable to determine whether the engineer was engaged in teaching tasks as Amtrak train 66 approached Back Bay station, another apprentice described the engineer's instruction in physical characteristics as intensive throughout the trips. The Safety Board believes that Amtrak should select instructing engineers on the basis of several considerations, such as an exemplary operating and safety record, evidence of disciplined attention to operating tasks under high workload conditions, and an aptitude for teaching and interpersonal skills, that are compatible with rigorous instruction.
Sources of Engineer Training Program Deficiencies.—The Safety Board tried to determine why the foregoing deficiencies remained even though the engineer
