Apply for a Railroad Job

Posting your information via online job boards has become increasingly popular and it's important to be a little computer savvy. Taking a course online and researching the job boards are just a few ways for you to get comfortable and less frustrated in the virtual world.

• Resume: create your own, ask a trusted friend or associate for assistance, or contact a professional if you are stumped.
• Work history: If it is:
  ~ limited highlight your goals
  ~ from a different industry emphasize your skills
  ~ a lateral move focus on your desire for change.
• Current references: make sure to contact your references to let them know someone from 'XYZ' company may be calling them for a reference.

Tips and hints:

• Once you have designed your resume make sure to also save one in a plain text document, most job boards misconstrue templated or HTML language.
• When you are ready to apply for a job online pay attention to 'true/false' and 'yes/no' responses, plus review ALL your information before hitting submit.
• No BS needed, simply represent yourself.

• Make sure your email address is professional. For instance, roadkiller@abc.com or 69lover@somewhere.com should be changed to something more mainstream...like your name or initials.
• And if you are using your initials make sure they don't turn out like this!
• There are several free email servers, I have listed a few below. Make sure to read their spam policy and set up your account accordingly.
• Do a Google or Mamma search for 'free email accounts'

        

**When you post your resume and personal information make sure to set-up email reminders and updates**

Careers: "I'm Matt Rose, BNSF's chairman, president and CEO. Thank you for your interest in learning more about BNSF and the range of career opportunities we have available for you.

As you navigate through our site, you will find that BNSF is on the frontier of shaping the future of the freight railroad industry. We play a vital role in the global economy and..."

History: "Today's BNSF Railway is the product of some 390 different railroad lines that merged or were acquired during more than 150 years.

While many different railroads combined to form the modern BNSF Railway, all shared one or more common features:..."

Diversity: "We've covered great distances in our diversity journey at BNSF, and it all begins with every employee valuing the differences we each bring to the workplace."

Yardmaster: Coordinate the activities of workers engaged in railroad traffic operations. These activities include making up or breaking up trains and switching inbound or outbound traffic to a specific section of the line. Some cars are sent to unload their cargo on special tracks, while others s are moved to different tracks to await assembly into new trains, based on their destinations. Yardmasters tell engineers where to move the cars to fit the planned train configuration. Switches-many of them operated remotely by computer-divert the locomotive or cars to the proper track for coupling and uncoupling.

Resource: JobBank USA
Photo Permission from manuere on MorgueFile

The BNSF Railway (AAR reporting marks BNSF) headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, is one of the four remaining transcontinental railroads and one of the largest railroad networks in North America. Only the Union Pacific Railroad is larger in size. With globalization, the transcontinental railroads are a key component in the containerization of trade from the Pacific Rim. The BNSF Railway moves more intermodal freight traffic than any other rail system in the world.

It was formed December 31, 1996, as the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe (BNSF) Railway when the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway was merged into the Burlington Northern Railroad. In 1999 the BNSF Railway and the Canadian National Railway announced their intention to merge and form a new corporation entitled the North American Railways to be headquartered in Montreal, Canada. The United States' Surface Transportation Board (STB) placed a 15-month moratorium on all rail mergers, which ended this merger. On January 24, 2005, the railroad's name was officially changed to BNSF Railway.

The BNSF Railway is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation, the holding company formed by the September 22, 1995 merger of Burlington Northern, Incorporated and the Santa Fe Pacific Corporation. According to corporate press releases, the BNSF Railway is among the top transporters of intermodal freight in North America. It moves more grain than any other American railroad. It also hauls enough coal to generate roughly 10% of the electricity produced in the United States. The company's northern route completes the high-speed link from the western to eastern United States.

This was the route of the Great Northern Railway's Silk Extras in the 1920s. They had priority over all other trains, stopping only for refueling and crew changes. These trains transported silk to the east from ships arriving in the Port of Seattle from Japan.

read the rest of the Wikipedia article

Beans = mealtime
Foamer = people infatuated with trains
Hogger = Engineer
1,000 mile sandwich = PB&J sandwich

Click here for more RR terms.

**When you post your resume and personal information make sure to set-up email reminders and updates**

Careers: "Never in Union Pacific's 145-year history have there been as many opportunities for employment and rapid advancement as there are today. With baby boomers retiring in record numbers and the intense demand for our transportation services, we're hiring in unprecedented numbers in every part of our company."

History and Photos: "This is the story of the first transcontinental railroad; the greatest, most daring engineering effort the country had yet seen. The time was the 1860s. Imagine the task. The idea was to span the west with iron rails from Omaha to Sacramento, to build a railroad across two-thirds..."

Fun Facts: Highlighting the lighter side of life is always a good thing. Enjoy!

The Union Pacific Railroad (AAR reporting marks UP), headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, is the largest railroad network in the United States. James R. Young is president, CEO and Chairman.

UP's route map covers most of the central and western United States west of Chicago and New Orleans. As of 2005, UP operates on 32,426 miles (52,185 km) of track, of which it owns outright 26,949 miles (43,370 km), both numbers representing the highest amount of any railroad currently operating in the United States. It has achieved this size thanks to purchasing a large number of other railroads, notably the Missouri Pacific, Chicago and North Western, Western Pacific, Missouri-Kansas-Texas, and the Rio Grande (including the Southern Pacific). Currently, Union Pacific owns 26% of Ferromex while Grupo Mexico owns the remaining 74%.

UP's chief railroad competitor is the BNSF Railway, which covers much of the same territory.

read the rest of the Wikipedia article

RAILnews.net Rail news for railfans, railroaders, and train enthusiasts.

America's Freight Railroads Work Hard For You Everyday A cleaner and greener America works for everyone. And freight railroads are by far the most environmentally friendly mode of surface transportation...

Railroad Radio RailroadRadio.net is the most popular live railroad radio site on the internet. (Categorized by Time Zone, and listed roughly in a North to South order).

Railroad Links Directory Over 5,000 railroad links. We've searched the web to bring you the best in railroad websites. Hop on board at the Information Train Station and travel to train sites around the world. Online since 1996 and continually adding more listings, we're one...

Association of American Railroads You could actually spend hours on this site! Covers a myriad of topics all about...you guessed it...the railroad.

Photo Permission from Jusben on MorgueFile

**When you post your resume and personal information make sure to set-up email reminders and updates**

Careers: "CN's goal is to be the best transportation company in North America. Employees working in rail yards, offices and intermodal terminals all bring essential skills to the process and play an important role in keeping our operations running smoothly."

Ports and Docks: "CN-served port facilities provide you with effective entry to the vast North American markets. We are also a key resource for any company interested in global trade. No matter where you are in the world - Asia, Europe, Africa, or the Americas - or where your customers are, there is a CN-served port perfectly situated to meet your needs."

About CN: "Over the years, CN has built solid relationships with the communities through which our trains pass, based on our mutual responsibility to ensure the safety of citizens and employees."

Photo Permission from Jusben on MorgueFile

Engineers: Among the most experienced and skilled workers on the railroad they operate large trains carrying cargo or passengers between stations.

• Receive starting instructions from conductors
• Move controls such as throttles and air brakes to drive the locomotive
• Monitor instruments that measure speed, amperage, battery charge, and air pressure, both in the brake lines and in the main reservoir
• On the open rail and in the yard, they confer with conductors and traffic control center personnel via two-way radio or mobile telephone to issue or receive information concerning stops, delays, and the locations of trains
• Interpret and comply with orders, signals, speed limits, and railroad rules and regulations
• Have a thorough knowledge of the signaling systems, yards, and terminals on the routes over which they travel
• Must be constantly aware of the condition and makeup of their train, because trains react differently to acceleration, braking, and curves, depending on the grade and condition of the rail, the number of cars, the ratio of empty cars to loaded cars, and the amount of slack in the train.

Resource: JobBank USA
Photo Permission from Jusben on MorgueFile

The Canadian National Railway (AAR reporting marks CN) is a Canadian Class I railway operated by the Canadian National Railway Company headquartered in Montreal, Quebec.>br>
CN is the largest railway in Canada, in terms of both revenue and the physical size of its rail network and is currently Canada's only transcontinental railway company, spanning Canada from the Atlantic coast in Nova Scotia to the Pacific coast in British Columbia. It also has extensive trackage in the central United States along the Mississippi River valley from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico.

The railway was referred to as the Canadian National Railways (CNR) between 1918 and 1960 and as Canadian National (CN) from 1960 to present.

The Canadian National Railway is a public company with 22,000 employees and market capitalization of 21 billion USD in 2008.

read the rest of the Wikipedia article

The following link provides information about job vacancies reported to the Railroad Retirement Board's (RRB) field offices. The list includes orders that the receiving field office does not expect to fill locally, and which according to RRB records remained open as of the end of the month.

RR Job Vacancies Reported to the RRB

**Additional Job Board Links**

Hot Jobs on Yahoo: "Even if you're not ready to leave your job, you can make sure a better opportunity doesn't pass you by..."

Monster Jobs: Join this FREE job network site to access jobs and company searches, plus excellent advice about resumes,cover letters, etc.

USA Jobs: Provided at no cost and offers information on 42,893 U.S. government job opportunities worldwide.

**When you post your resume and personal information make sure to set-up email reminders and updates**

Careers: Our Vision: "To be the safest, most progressive North American Railroad, relentless in the pursuit of customer and employee excellence."

Awards and Recognition: "We're proud to be nationally recognized by several organizations and publications for our ongoing dedication to excellence, best practices and a diverse workforce."

Environmental Stewardship: "Safety and the protection of human health and the environment are fundamental to CSX's management principles and good business practices." - Michael J. Ward, Chairman, President and CEO

CSX Transportation was formed on July 1, 1986 as a renaming of the Seaboard System Railroad and Chessie System, Inc. into one entity. The originator of the Seaboard System was the former Seaboard Air Line Railroad, which previously merged Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, and later Louisville and Nashville Railroad, as well as several smaller subsidiaries. On August 31, 1987 the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, which had absorbed the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad on April 30 of that year, merged into CSX. The merger had been started in 1982 with the merger of Chessie System and Seaboard Coast Line Industries to form the CSX Corporation.

On June 23, 1997, CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern filed a joint application with the Surface Transportation Board for authority to purchase, divide and operate the assets of the 11,000-mile Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail), which had been created in 1976 by bringing together several ailing Northeastern railway systems into a government-owned corporation. On June 6, 1998, the STB approved the CSX-Norfolk Southern application and set August 22, 1998, as the effective date of its decision. CSX acquired 42% of Conrail's assets, and Norfolk Southern received the remaining 58%.

As a result of the transaction, CSX's rail operations grew to include some 3,800 miles of the Conrail system (predominantly lines that had belonged to the former New York Central Railroad). CSX began operating its trains on its portion of the Conrail network on June 1, 1999. CSX now serves much of the eastern U.S., with a few routes into nearby Canadian cities.

read the rest of the Wikipedia article

Conductors: Coordinate the activities of freight and passenger train crews. On freight trains they review schedules, switching orders, waybills, and shipping records to obtain loading and unloading information regarding their cargo.

• May move engines using radio control devices.
• Before a train leaves the terminal, the conductor and the engineer discuss instructions received from the dispatcher concerning the trains route, timetable, and cargo.
• Use two-way radios and mobile telephones to communicate with dispatchers, engineers, and conductors of other trains.
• Use dispatch or electronic monitoring devices that relay information about equipment problems on the train or the rails and arrange for the removal of defective cars from the train for repairs at the nearest station or stop.
• Additionally, they may discuss alternative routes if there is a defect in, or obstruction on, the rails.

Resource: JobBank USA
Photo Permission from willyir on MorgueFile

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