What is the pay rate for train service?

What is the pay rate for train service? Do you get overtime? Is there travel for this position? Please explain!!!

Rate of pay depends on where you are on the system. where i am we use a triprate. so your pay depends on where you went(away from home terminal).

where i am we have a flat rate and then we also have a basic day and over time after eight and tow in after 12 if that helps

deb963 wrote:What is the pay rate for train service? Do you get overtime? Is there travel for this position? Please explain!!!

The pay rate you get depends on a lot of things. First off, as others have mentioned, many districts are going to what they now call "trip rates". This is where you get a flat rate for working a trip from one point to another. The trip rates depend on the distance in miles you run, and the prevailing pay rates prior to the establishement of trip rates.

In this area, train service persons are paid under one of two contracts. The former CNW people get the CNW rate, averaging $189. per 8 hours. Those hired after 1996 receive the UP rate of pay which is about $172. per 8 hour trip, both based on 130 miles. Any milage over 130, the pay rate goes up.

Overtime is much trickier to figure. Again speaking for this area, if you run more than 130 miles, the basic 8 hour rate goes up. If you work over 8 hours, then overtime kicks in. However if you make the run in hours, you still get the basic 8 hour pay for 130 miles.

An example would be the run from Mason City to Butterfield, MN and return. That is about 254 miles, and your pay would be about $420. If you make that run in 5 hours, the pay is the same as it would be based on the milage, and not the time. However, it would take 12:50 before overtime would kick in. So the term "running miles" is meant that you have a lot of miles to run, and want to get it done as fast as you can.

The rank of pay rates for different service, from top paying to lowest payinig:

Work Train service/flagman
Yard service.
Local service.
Road service.

Road service is not paid holidays, nor "step up" pay. Road jobs do not have regular days off in this district either. So once you get your rest, you are available for call again. At last look road pools get about 30 hours at home before getting called out to work again.

In yard service, there is the following, from highest paid, to lowest:

Footboard Yardmaster......$220.
Switch Foreman........$190.
Brakeman/Switchman.....$173.

The above are all for 8 hours service. Overtime applies in the yard after 8 hours. If you are called ahead of your established job (stepped up), or you are called on your days off, then the rate is paid at time and a half. Holidays are paid at double time and a half.

A good example of long miles would be the Clinton, IA long pools. They run off 319 miles one way, and usually within 12 hours. These folks make in excess of $100k per year. But you have to have some high seniority to hold that pool. In other words, if you were hired after April 1976, forget thinking of marking up on that pool for a long time.

Lastly, travel. The railroads work under a seniority system. Meaning the person who has the highest seniority based on his "date" in that craft (brakeman/switchman, Conductor, Footboard Yardmaster), gets the job of his choice in the district. The low person on the list, usually gets the lowest paying jobs, or jobs that require a lot of work. This may mean if you live in Des Moines, you may have to cover a job anywhere in the state of Iowa. For months at a time, til your seniority allows you to hold a job closer.

If you work in a terminal with road jobs, more than likely you will have layover time at the end terminal. There you get rest, and wait on the list to work back to your home terminal.

Some do get lucky. After getting bumped all over Minnesota, I landed in Mason City, IA. I have been able to hold this terminal since, with the exception of when I had to train as an engineer. That took about one year total, then I was back home, and have held a job here ever since. And unlike road crews in other terminals, we get home after every trip.

Hope this makes sense.