Why do railroads hire people they do not need?

Question

I was recently hired by BNSF as a conductor trainee. I interviewed in Dec., took my physical in Feb., got my welcome to BNSF email April 30 then got a phone call from them May 4, 4 days later, telling me they cancelled my class and will not hold any classes for the rest of the year. It seems like they would have known that before telling me I was hired.

Are people not retiring as soon as they expected, or is business dropping off? Everything I have read says all Class 1's have more business than they can handle.

It makes me wonder how competant those in charge really are.

Answer 1

I was an overhire for the UP.  If you get through class and are willing to relocate to the butt end of nowhere (like Western Nebraska) you can make a decent living.  I could have stayed on if I would have moved to Chicago.  My wife said no to that.  She left anyway, so I do have a twinge of regret not staying with it.  I would probably be collecting tickets on commuter trains or working in engine service by now.  Stick with it and it will eventually pan out.  However, I have made a decent living post RR too.  

Are the RRs competent?  I have my doubts.  It functions like few other jobs do.  I spent 50% of the time cursing the incompentence of the company, with the other 50% cursing the incompetence of the union.

Answer 2

BNSF is known for this practice. I don't know why they do it but they do.

Answer 3

They need workers the the engineering department, but want hire them due to budget.

That CSX they bought 8 branch trucks at $500,000. each,

they laid for the rail gangs 2 months early to pay from them. It all about profit.

Answer 4

This might scare me out of school! I'm about to go to a government training school, TSU, to learn to be a conductor trainee, if this is true, I might have to change my mind!

I know businesses go through down sizing and such, but I think it might also matter if you were passenger or freight.

But I know that they can hire you, and not know they don't need you. The last school I went to  kept  adding students, but ended up turning therm away because we didn't have enough beds in to dorms. They mess up, and we get screwed for it.

Answer 5

As has been said many times before, by myself and others, though desirable jobs, railroading ain’t all gravy.

Though not as volatile as in the past, there is an ebb and flow to business and the needs for manpower to cover the traffic patterns that also accompany this cyclical business.

The railroads don’t hire people they don’t need.  Quite the contrary, they are reluctant to hire and usually do so when already way behind the need for more people.  That is mismanagement.

Even so, seniority is the name of the game.  If you have enough, you work.  Have not enough, you don’t have what is needed to work year round.  Getting furloughed in the winter time was always something you could count on.  But, with today’s hiring practices, the time one spends on the outside looking in is far less than what it used to be, and for not as long.  It was over three years before I had enough seniority to be able to work all through the year.

In the past, brakemen and switchmen would criss cross the country, following the work, hiring out for various railroads and moving on.  These were called 'boomers'.

This is something to consider when those nice pay checks start rollin’ in.  You’ll be tempted to buy a new car, house, boat, motorcycle, etc., etc.  Then whamo!  You’re on the street for a while and your credit goes down the drain.

Be patient and try to have a means of income for the times you may be furloughed. Stash some cash when it is coming in.  

As it was, is and forever shall be, getting furloughed when younger is just another part of the service...............

Good luck to you, and stay safe.