Subway Driver Training/Expertise

I graduated from schoolcar on JUNE 30 of this year and have to JAN 11th to finish my probation.

ANYONE here who THINKS being a train Operator is easy and UNSKILLED I want you to answer 3 simple questions.I GUARANTEE that NOBODY will get the answers correct.

What is the definition of a RED signal?

What is the definition of a GREEN signal?

What is the definition of a YELLOW signal?

NYCT does offer excellent health and retirement benefits, in addition to other on-the-job perks. However, I would not consider a $55,000 salary in the New York City area to be high. I earned slightly more as a NYCT Track Specialist, but quit after 10+ years because it was difficult to provide a decent quality of life for my family.

The requirements for a NYCT Train Operator can be found at the link below:

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcas/downloads/ ... 098000.pdf

While I was still with the Authority, a Train Operator required about six months of training. With the implementation of the new CBTC system, that may have increased. For those who feel the qualifications/training do not justify the salary, please consider the work environment.

- MOW personnel work during revenue hours. There is always the chance that a Train Operator may unexpectedly encounter a work crew setting up, or performing inspection, resulting in multiple fatalities.
- New Train Operators are often "extras," and have to work weekends and rotating shifts. Many work holidays, as well.
- It is a 24-hour system, and staying alert during the midnight shift is difficult.
- One typically merits more visits from investigators when sick, as an absent Train Operator affects trains schedules, and must be promptly replaced.
- Disciplinary action is common due to the nature of the job, as it involves moving customers. See what happens to a Train Operator who takes the wrong lineup at an interlocking.
- Consider having an upset stomach, and not being able to just stop the train to use the rest room. Taking a sick day has its own consequences.
- There is always the risk of encountering a jumper, dragging a customer caught in the doors, or derailment.

It is a good job, but not as easy as some may think. I hope this sheds some light on the subject.

G

The job of motorman has been downgraded literally to being an attendant, along with conductor. Until this fraud called "customer service" appeared, a motorman had to work for a year in yards and terminals "cutting, addiing drilling," transferring cars without passengers so that they could master the equipment. Since then, the training has been reduced to literally the length of a misdemeanor jail sentence and they are thrown out on the road(they may as well not have on any clothes). In this short time, they must master the equipment and the physical characteristics of the road. The TA never trained like the "Class One's," but in the old days the instructors made them ready.

On a Class One, crews attend intensive classroom lectures, ride the routes, visit and spend time at interlockings. Then, they return to the classroom and draw what they have learned to scale. They must also be able to recite the stations in order and many other things-ALL BY ROTE. Class One railroads pay more because their crews have greater responsibilities and they must demonstrate them at anytime to a supervisor or an FRA inspector.

Transit does not care if you know the real nuts and bolts, only the announcements to these multi-phobic riders. That is all. Transit is concerned that the crew, even while they are investigating underneath a train, is making proper announcements. Transit crews do not know their routes. I have seen motormen using subway maps in a futile attempt to figure out what their next move will be at major transfer points amd junctions.

As for hiring m/m's from the street: I have no objection, but they should have a year of commercial driving experience. This was how TTC did it until they became politically correct. This was to allow women and to say that certain racial groups were not capable of multiple qualification. TTC required ALL operators to qualify on EVERYTHING. Now operators can remain bus drivers or streetcar motormen forever and not have to learn anything else. The job of a subway motorman is not easy. The social workers who have taken over the industry make it seem easy. It is easy, if you have a brain and you put that mind to the job. But, the bosses do not want thinking people. It was like that in the "good old days" and it is now.

As for gjk1716: any bus driver or subway motorman or conductor has to use a bathroom during work, they will do so. That is common sense.