Western Railroad Discussion > Train dispatcher question

How does someone become a train dispatcher?

Go to College. Get a degree. Apply at a railroad. Interview well. Get hired.

Or enlist in the military. Have some sort of operations backgroung/air traffic control experience while there. Apply at a railroad. Interview well. Get hired.

BNSF will hire Dispatchers through the ranks too. So if you can get on the BNSF in some sort of position you might be able to transfer into dispatching.

Grande473 Wrote:
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> How does someone become a train dispatcher?

any specific railroad or location ??? each railroad has dispatcher centers in various locations ...

Posted from Android



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/29/15 16:38 by Out_Of_Service.

I went up through the "This way Up" program from the MOW department during BN days. If you are selected, it will be a tough go, do not expect a walk in the park. In my class out of the Alliance office, over 100 were allowed an interview, 3 of us were selected for school, 1 washed out at mid term and I was the only one who made my 60 and established seniority. That class had less than a 1% success rate and that was typical for back then.

EmpireBuilder Wrote:
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> I went up through the "This way Up" program from
> the MOW department during BN days. If you are
> selected, it will be a tough go, do not expect a
> walk in the park. In my class out of the
> Alliance office, over 100 were allowed an
> interview, 3 of us were selected for school, 1
> washed out at mid term and I was the only one who
> made my 60 and established seniority. That class
> had less than a 1% success rate and that was
> typical for back then.

That's very impressive, congratulations.

Is the 1% typical of recent dispatcher programs at BNSF?

Grande473 Wrote:
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> How does someone become a train dispatcher?

BNSF in cooperation with Tarrant County College has set up a dispatcher course -

http://www.tccd.edu/courses_and_programs/program_offerings/railroad/

BNSF as well as other railroads do hire people who complete the course. Once you pass the course and get hired you are on probation for 60 working days. Once you've worked your 60th day without any major screws up or other problems your're in. I should add the washout rate for not completing the TCC course or the 60 working day probationary period is between 30 and 40 percent ... so no, it's not an easy job to learn and master.

In addition to the freight railroads, you might also consider looking into the passenger railroads. Metrolink (LA), Caltrans (SF), METRA, MBTA, MetroNorth/LIRR (MTA), NJT, SEPTA and Amtrak all have their own dispatching offices. While the passenger railroads generally pay less than the freights, it can serve as a stepping stone to the freight side later on.

Have all the brains scraped out of your head. Then learn to say three things. 1-"I don't know." 2- "Wait a minute." 3-"It's too early to tell right now." It worked for me. Seriously, when I did it, it was up through the ranks, as operator. Much has changed since my day, and some people here have given you some good advice. Good luck. It was the most fun job I ever had in my life.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/28/15 17:22 by Ex127So.

sp8192 Wrote:
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> Go to College. Get a degree. Apply at a
> railroad. Interview well. Get hired.

BNSF does require you to go through the TCC course (see above). Other railroads might not.


>
> Or enlist in the military. Have some sort of
> operations backgroung/air traffic control
> experience while there. Apply at a railroad.
> Interview well. Get hired.


BNSF has hired a lot of former Air Traffic Control people from both the USAF and the FAA side.

Also learn questions like "when do you go dead" ,"make yourselves comfortable you're gonna be there a while" , and "can you clear the main and get it tied down in the 10 minutes you have left? ". Oh yeah and "I don't know. ..let me ask the chief". Those will serve you well.

Posted from Android

UP does their own training once a candidate is hired. There is none of this nonsense of going to some college with no guarantee of a job. You get paid with full benefits while in training.

From what I understand the training is very thorough which requires a tremendous amount of home studying.

Tough, thankless job. Hired out as an operator and became a train dispatcher for the NYC-PC in '68 at age 20. when the sup't asked me if I wanted to give it a shot. Truth was, nobody else wanted any part of that 3pm-11pm shift. Had ulcers at 23. Loved the job but a LOT of constant pressure. Nowadays, operator jobs are few & far between so the railroad has taken employees from ANY craft on the railroad to train. Here in the Detroit area the NS has taken people from off the street with NO railroad training or experience and trained them to become a dispr. So my suggestion to you is to contact the railroad you're interested in & hear what they have to say regarding requirements or qualifications they are looking for. Advantage of being a dispr is the pay is good & you're gonna sleep in your own bed every day. Disadvantage is that it is a 24/7 operation including ALL holidays (spent many a Christmas Eve, Christmas Day & NY's Eve on the job.) Lots of stress too. Took my lunch back home with me more times than I got to eat it on the job (no lunch period)
GOOD LUCK !!!

I dispatched for several decades with several roads. Prior to that I had been an operator, signal maintainer, and in train service. All were invaluable in preparing me for dispatching, especially the train service. If you first work out in the field for a while, you will find you know more than anyone in the office. Get your experience and seniority there first; then you not only have some perspective but also something to fall back on if you don't pass all the idiot tests. They won't admit this, but their mission is more to see if you will fail than succeed. Just a few weeks ago I was asking myself what job I would take if I could do it all over again, and I chose train service.

Rich

Thanks to the OP and all the responders for a very interesting discussion!

Are you good at puzzles? Do you like them? My wife does and she is good at this, better than me...
This job may have been better when every candidate was a "craft transfer" but most of those crafts have been eliminated (station agent, tower operator) I called Tarrant County College here in Fort Worth at the recommendation of someone at the supt. level at BNSF. I had sent several resumes with no response. Took a battery of what I thought were difficult aptitude tests (and I usually thought aptitude tests were a walk in the park). Got accepted for the course and was told the BNSF was paying for a scholarship to attend the course, 14 weeks, minimum passing score 90%. My whole class passed the final (was a bit of a surprise for the instructors) Now days I don't believe they do the scholarship, you have to attend the course on your own dime. A Bachelor's degree is not a requisite I didn't quite have the credits for an Associate's. Anyway, do the 14 week course. Then go in front of a hiring board, after the course I didn't think the board was an especially big deal. You also don't get paid while attending the course, and it is full time.
I would say that 30% of the class didn't make the probationary period. After 15 years I would say that 30% of my class are still railroading (out of a class of 15). There was a craft transfer class attending at the same time and I think their pass rate was about 70%. I am prior military, I think only two other members of my class were at that time (both Navy officers), now the ratio has gone up considerably, and yes they have picked a lot of former air traffic controllers from all branches.
Now just because you passed the course, you don't know diddly about dispatching, you only know the rulebook. The quality of your training depends on your instructors, some are great, some aren't so great. BNSF does have a mentor program that will pair a student learning his(her) first job with someone who volunteered to be a mentor. This helps, learning the rule book and seeing the rules in practice can be a bit of a transition, there is definitely an ah-ha moment when it clicks.
$93k a year doesn't suck for someone with a junior college education. There is a lot of stress involved, there's a reason why after 15 years I am still working midnights, my senority would let me work days if I wished at this point. There are opportunities for promotion, the railroad at this point likes to look at dispatching as an entry level management training position. If you have a degree, don't mind moving around a lot (every two years or so) and have an ability to learn at a rate akin to being fed from a fire hose and are ambitious, you will do well, you could be at the superintendent level inside of 10 years.
I spent 24 years in the Air Force (command and control systems operator on E-3 AWACS aircraft) and have been dispatching for 15 years, I will probably dispatch for another five. I walked in the door planning to retire as a dispatcher, youth helps when it comes to promotions. Do I recommend it? Absolutely! Is it easy, hell no! But like my wife says, "if it was easy, anyone could do it and it would pay like McDonald's

loco4501 Wrote:
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> Also learn questions like "when do you go dead"
> ,"make yourselves comfortable you're gonna be
> there a while" , and "can you clear the main and
> get it tied down in the 10 minutes you have left?
> ". Oh yeah and "I don't know. ..let me ask the
> chief". Those will serve you well.
>
> Posted from Android

Don't forget to ask for every other block back.

Pacific5th Wrote:
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> loco4501 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Also learn questions like "when do you go dead"
> > ,"make yourselves comfortable you're gonna be
> > there a while" , and "can you clear the main
> and
> > get it tied down in the 10 minutes you have
> left?
> > ". Oh yeah and "I don't know. ..let me ask the
> > chief". Those will serve you well.
> >
> > Posted from Android
>
> Don't forget to ask for every other block back.

And a roll up at MP xxx

If you consider passenger railroads for dispatching they might be easier is some respects, but they have totally their own stresses. The keeping those damn trains on-time to a printed schedule all day long, every day, is a big one.

Gary

Posted from iPhone

BTW, I am not interested in being one, I am just curious what it takes. I will just keep running my light rail train until I retire.

Many interesting perspectives on the job.