Hey, since Amtrak is a government subsidy funded operation, are it’s employees government employees like postal workers? Also I am(trak) thinking about trying to become an engineer for Amtrak (if they still exist) when I’m older. Are they contracted out from the freight railroads or does do you actually work for Amtrak, so, who sign’s your paycheck, the host railroad or Amtrak. Thank you.
Can anyone tell me?
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Originally posted by UPTRAIN
Hey, since Amtrak is a government subsidy funded operation.
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You mean at Tax Payers expence?
Yes…but that’s not my main question. I’d rather see Amtrak trains then nothing…which we could have if a major derailment happens. They have a big derailment, put 8 cars out out of service, and they don’t have backups, that means cutbacks and if they can’t fix them due to lack of funds, loss of what little revenue it makes. What I really need to know is who you would work for and who you need to send a job application to.
As I understand it, they are NOT federal employees, they work for the National Railroad Passenger Corporation, the proper name for Amtrak. It is a railroad and it’s employees come under the same rules, regulations, and retirement plans as any other railroad. Amtrak is federal and state funded, and in some cases even locally funded. They don’t run on a host railroad per se, they rent the tracks for each train, except the small places Amtrak owns, like the northeast corridor, so I imagine it works like any other railroad with trackage rights.
That clears that part up, but, do the engineers work for Amtrak or the freight railroads?
The Amtrak engineers work for Amtrak.
Amtrak employees are just like any other railroad employee. The government (through the FRA, then Amtrak) pays into the railroad retirement system just like alot of other railroads. Many years ago (before 1986 I believe) Amtrak not only had to pay many of the contract freight railroads for the use of the tracks, but also had to pay them for the use of their train crews. Even in the Northeast Corridor, the train conductors and engineers belonged to Penn Central, then Conrail, were being contracted to work the passenger trains for Amtrak in their own territory. After 1986, most of that changed and the train crews were now Amtrak’s, the shop maintenance personnel were now Amtrak’s, the road maintenance personnel were now Amtrak’s and the on board service personnel were now Amtrak’s. The train crews that worked for the freight railroads were given a choice of going back to working freight or going over to Amtrak. However, Amtrak was required to accept and absorb many of the contractual aggreements the workers had when they worked under their former railroad. Even for some of the Northeast’s commuter railroads, they too hired many ex freight employees and took over many of the old freight rail lines that their trains run over. Now, some of those same freight companies pay them a track user fee, instead of the other way around. So, to answer your question, the answer is…NO. I know many of my coworker would not want to be included in the federal employment system. Thanks for the question though.
GLENN
A T R U E AND R E A L RAILROADER!!!
A T R U E AND R E A L AMTRAKER!!!
A T R U E L Y P[censored] O F F AMERICAN!!![soapbox]
If you would like to see what types of conductor or locomotive engineer positions are available at any given time, or to apply, visit their Job Postings web site at http://jobs.amtrak.com/ .
Engineer postings are usually under the job title “Passenger Engineer.”
Good luck [:)]!!
To clarify another point, Postal Workers work for the U S Postal Service which is wholy owned by the United States.
So when you hear about Congress voting in the next few weeks on government worker’s pay, that will not affect the Postal Workers. They are separate from the general fund and are paid by money earned from the sale of stamps and other postage, no tax dollars in thier paychecks.