Alright, since the first Tower got shut down, here’s a new one so that you can all go off-topic to your heart’s content. I won’t be participating. The only rules: no flagging and no cussin’. Now have at it!
Firecrown, please don’t ban me for this.
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I think it might be too late for this since there are only a handful of active posters. You need to watch out more for members who promiscuously flag rather than Firecrown.
Let’s not flag at all, and be civil if we choose to disagree, just as in the Diner or Chatterbox.
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Comparing (passenger) salaries on Germany’s DB with those here.
“Skilled train and locomotive drivers take home an average of up to €4,600 ($5345) gross monthly in Germany. [For context] as of April 2025, the average gross earnings of full-time employees in Germany are €4,784.($5558)” Pretax income.
https://www.euronews.com/business/2026/03/06/europes-train-drivers-how-do-their-salaries-stack-up
I don’t know average Amtrak monthly salary, but I am guessing more than double?
Didn’t you post details of how the government carefully negotiates with the crews to control the amount they “have” to pay in wages, and what the working conditions will be?
The lok drivers have a union and strikes are far from rare. Amtrak is a quasi-government corporation. Their pay scale is much higher. I seem to recall Sam checking it out and finding it is higher than that of the major freight rails.
From what I’ve seen on forums, Amtrak pays about the same or slightly less than class one freight railroads overall. (Still probably better than in Germany. ) Just like on the freight carriers, some assignments pay more, so even on the same railroad you can have a wide range of salary.
Right now, CN is probably has the highest pay for T&E people. Around $63 hour. When CN took over the Iowa Northern, every railfan seemed to lament the loss. The IANR employees saw their pay rate just about double.
Jeff
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The hourly rate is pretty meaningless because of many other factors. What is the typical UP monthly wage?