Western Railroad Discussion > Train Dispatchers

I was wondering if some train dispatchers could give me some information about their job. Especially if you are a dispatcher for BNSF. Can you tell me about the hours you work, your salary, how much you get paid an hour? how you became a train dispatcher once you were done with high school? if i could just get some information that would be greatly appreciated thanks!

I'll try to briefly summarize my experiences for you:

I went through the dispatchers' training program at Johnson County Community College (JCCC) in Overland Park, KS in 1995. At the time, the program was sponsored by BN. I had contacted BN about possible employment opportunities as a dispatcher, and they wanted to know if I was an experienced dispatcher. My answer being "no", they referred me to JCCC. I believe the dispatchers' training program now takes place at Fort Worth's (TX) Tarrant County Junior College (TCJC) and BNSF is the (or one of the) sponsors of the program.

When I applied for the program, there was a requirement that applicants have 30 hours of college credit in addition to a high school diploma. I'm not sure what the requirements are now.

As a new dispatcher, once you have passed the rules and simulation classes, you will be placed on an extra board in one of the offices -- could be San Bernardino, Fort Worth, Spring (Houston), or Kansas City -- and begin training on dispatching desks. As an extra dispatcher, you will be scheduled to work any and all of the three shifts: daylights (0700-1500), afternoons (1500-2300), and nights (2300-0700). You get an FRA-mandated 15 (usually 16) hours off between shifts and can work no more than 9 hours (usually 8) in a shift. BNSF extra board dispatchers are guaranteed 40 hours a week, and you get paid for 40, even if you are scheduled for less than that during the work week. You will sometimes get 2 days off in a row, but not usually. You will rarely have weekends or holidays off. As an extra dispatcher, you are "on call" when off duty, and are expected to be rested and prepared to work any shift for which you are rested (having had at least 15 hours off duty), even on short notice.

I believe our basic daily rate of pay is something in the neighborhood of $230 for 8 hours (but don't quote me on that, I haven't checked in a while), but as a probationary dispatcher, you only get 80% of it on days that you are training, until you have worked 60 days on your own. (You do, however, get 100% pay for each day worked "solo".)

Additionally, with regard to schedules, in the Fort Worth office, most dispatchers are spending at least their first year and a 1/2 on the extra board, working all 3 shifts before they have enough seniority to hold a relief job or permanent job on one shift with regular days off (usually mid-week days off, like Mon/Tue or Tue/Wed, as the higher seniority dispatchers usually hold the jobs with more desireable days off, like weekends.)

Myself, I have almost 6 years as a dispatcher and still can't hold a daylight job... can hold several afternoon or night jobs, but in most cases, the best I can do for days off would be Sun/Mon, and on a really nasty (read: busy and challenging, with lots of traffic, such as the Orin Line) job at that.

Hope this helps. In checking my company's website, it appears as though we are not holding any dispatcher training classes in the immediate future, but I suggest you watch the following URL for an update on when classes may be taking place:
http://www.bnsf-ttc.com/classSched/classSched.htm

Additionally, the following URL may be of interest to you:
http://www.railroadtraining.com/

WSC


MN_GUY_03 wrote:
>
> I was wondering if some train dispatchers could give me some
> information about their job. Especially if you are a dispatcher
> for BNSF. Can you tell me about the hours you work, your
> salary, how much you get paid an hour? how you became a train
> dispatcher once you were done with high school? if i could just
> get some information that would be greatly appreciated thanks!

WSC, how many desks do you have to cover on the extra board there? We only have 6 territories and 2 asst. chief jobs in our office (Ft Wayne,In/NS). I don't think anyone here has more than 4 or 5 of the 8 jobs. Lately with retirements, they usually get a relief job by then. The way I see it, that's plenty to try to stay fresh on without getting yourself in trouble when you don't get to work one of them for several weeks. Plus, the more you know, the more you get bounced around the schedule to cover sudden vacancies. I imagine there'd have to be some kind of limit in a big office like Ft Worth as to how many territories they can expect you to cover. Do they try to keep them geographically close, or can they be scattered around the RR?

Halfmoon,

Well, first of all, in an office as large as the NOC, there are exceptions to everything! ;-) That said, here are a few of my observations:

The office is divided into several geographic zones, usually centering around a central hub: Galesburg, Denver, Lincoln, Spokane, etc. Smaller zones may have 5 to 6 desks; larger ones might have 10 or more. Each zone has its own extra board. New dispatchers are assigned to extra boards on a pretty random basis, but if you come from a certain region and there's an opening, sometimes they'll try to stick you there (but not always!)

Extra dispatchers who stay on the extra board long enough will usually learn all the jobs on whatever zone to which they are assigned. Most zones consist of 6 to 10 territories, plus a chief dispatcher -- and a few zones still have assistant chiefs.

Once you qualify on 5 or 6 desks, the schedulers usually keep you busy filling vacancies on those desks and you don't get as much of a chance to learn new ones.

On some zones, after you mark up on all the trick jobs, you'll get a chance to learn and work the assistant chief's job (on the zones that have one) and sometimes even the chief dispatcher's job (usually at a dramatic increase in pay since it's a 12-hour shift).

Some extra dispatchers have, after qualifying on all the desks on one zone, been assigned to another zone to learn that zone's desks so they can fill vacancies on both zones. I can think of 2 or 3 extra board guys who can work 8 or 10 jobs. But I'd say 6 is probably the average for someone who's been there a year or 2.

There is also tremendous variation in job qualification among those who hold regular jobs. I'm qualified on 8 different desks. I hold a regular job (a relief job, working three different desks -- two of them two days a week and a 3rd one once a week, all on the afternoon shift), and I'm still qualified on about 5 other jobs I used to work, so I can be called for overtime on those desks. In my career, I have probably worked 15 desks, but it's been a few years since I've worked some of them, so I don't show qualified on those desks anymore. I know of one guy who is qualified on probably 20 or 30 jobs and keeps bidding on new ones to get qualified on more and thus make more overtime $$$. Others have worked the same job for years and years and only show qualified on that one desk.

Like I said, in an office the size of ours, there are many circumstances and many variations.

WSC - Gotta go rest for my "Friday" (last day of my week before my rest days) shift that starts in 12 hours!

halfmoonharold wrote:
>
> WSC, how many desks do you have to cover on the extra board
> there? We only have 6 territories and 2 asst. chief jobs in our
> office (Ft Wayne,In/NS). I don't think anyone here has more
> than 4 or 5 of the 8 jobs. Lately with retirements, they
> usually get a relief job by then. The way I see it, that's
> plenty to try to stay fresh on without getting yourself in
> trouble when you don't get to work one of them for several
> weeks. Plus, the more you know, the more you get bounced around
> the schedule to cover sudden vacancies. I imagine there'd have
> to be some kind of limit in a big office like Ft Worth as to
> how many territories they can expect you to cover. Do they try
> to keep them geographically close, or can they be scattered
> around the RR?

You might like to check the following link on the BNSF site

http://www.bnsf.com/jobs/html/frequently_asked_questions.html

It contains the following information about employment / training opportunities for prospective dispatchers:

Q. How do I apply for dispatching opportunities?

A. Applicants for Train Dispatcher at BNSF must have prior train dispatcher training or
experience. Experienced train dispatchers should forward their resume with cover
letter to:

Mr. Dan Bodeman
BNSF Railway
Director Dispatching Practices
2600 Lou Menk Drive
Fort Worth, TX 76131

A dispatcher training program is available through Tarrant County College (TCC). The
program is available to the public. Certain prerequisites are required for admission.
BNSF uses this program as a recruiting source. However, neither TCC, nor BNSF, can
guarantee employment on completion of the program. For those interested, please
contact (817) 515-7269 or write to:

Railroad Dispatcher Training Program
Tarrant County College - Northwest Campus
4801 Marine Creek Parkway
Fort Worth, TX 76179