nipaaaa

Having passed the final signal exam, I'm going to summarize the YX (yard extra) experience. Overall it was a pleasant learning experience and at the same time mind numbing especially when there's no work assigned. I could only study and review so much. I think working in yards is more valuable than relaying trains at terminals. Though the latter makes the day go by faster. I've had nothing but bad experiences at terminals. I had 1 guy passed out on drugs and one lady who tripped while boarding and busted her ass all over the place. On both occasions, I had to stay at the scene and wait for paramedics to show up. The lady who fell was during morning rush hour and I had to ask the horde of commuters to detrain, they were pissed off! Turned out she faked the injury because the TSS report stated that the doctor said nothing was wrong in the x-rays. If only those commuters knew. Also, radio signals suck major ass. I almost got in trouble because apparently the terminal dispatcher was calling for me but I swear I didn't hear anything. It was a good thing that I was with a tss and he vouched for me cuz i was under his watch during that period of time assisting with the lady who fell on her ass. My tours of preference are: evenings > mornings > midnights. There is nothing worse than watching the sun rise with no sleep. I dodged the bullet and didn't get any midnight shifts. My highlights of YX was going down the road for testing trains with TSS Fingers from Jamaica yard to Bedford-Nostrand and back. He's one of the best in the system! Very eager to teach even though he's not a schoolcar instructor. I feel he's more qualified than the ones at schoolcar tbh. I was fortunate enough to have him for 2 consecutive days so I really got to get my R46 all-guns-blazing-station-stops down. Since I'm from south brooklyn, I was also very fortunate to dodge the Bronx bullets and also got blessed for my last week. I was sent 3 days in a row to coney island stillwell terminal 😍 To wrap this up, today at schoolcar the superintendent walked in and had a real talk with my class. He said he was only looking for one thing from us: perfection. He mentioned the July and August classes having too many incidents during road posting and so the bar has been set really high. I don't think he was trying to scare us, but just reminding us that this is a serious job and that we should be on our toes. I agree!

i agree schoolcar pace of training is way too fast. Especially the first 2 months where they cram you for 2 practicals and a signal exam

ah there's one, update us on the size of the entire induction class.

We have 2 simulators and they do not accurately simulate anything. I felt motion sickness and wanted to throw up. For some reason the simulator rocks sideways as if you were on a ship.

which one? August's?

So you're telling me there's no one on this forum who is on that class?

So is there really an April 29 class? it's 2 weeks til d-day and we still haven't seen any confirmed hires or even successful pre-employments. I remember I went in for PE 24 days before hire.

4 more weeks of YX... can't wait til hitting the road. Been doing the PM tours and now I'm starting AMs. As I'm writing this, I'm supposed to be in bed winding down in my sleep but my body is so used to the PMs that I couldn't fall asleep at all. For example, I have to report to 207 yard at 0600 so I tried going to sleep at 1900. I give myself 2 hours to take the subway since I live all the way down in Brooklyn by the verazzano bridge, and 1 hour to eat breakfast so I have to wake up at 0300. This first day of AM is gonna be rough going in with no sleep. Just have to bite the bullet and hopefully I'll be exhausted by the end of the shift so I can fall asleep around 6-7pm.

yes and it doesn't matter how many points you have

idk why the mta makes it weird like that. Just know that OT is 1.5x your base wage...so if you make $30/hr, then 1 hour of OT would be $45. If you worked 30 mins OT, then you made $22.50

a relay is moving a train from a northbound track to the southbound track and vice versa cutting is the act of separating a train into 2 halves (you cut or uncouple a train) "Put in" is short for putting a train into service. The opposite would be putting a train out of service or a lay up. I jokingly refer to them as "Putin" like ... vladimir putin lol

Communications based train control trains are operated by literally pressing 1 button every 20 seconds. Trains currently on CBTC are the L and 7. I heard the E and F will get em next.

Thank you for the very insightful overview! Your training is a lot better paced than the MTA. You're not introduced to basic traction course to get the feel for the train to do slow speed yard movement until week 8 whereas we're told to do that on the 2nd week. Also, you don't get to fully drive a train until week 14-15 (presumably) whereas we're thrown into the main line going 25-30 mph doing station stops on the 3rd week!! It's utterly insane and sheer madness at the MTA. It also explains the attrition rate of induction classes. It's like 50%. I'm currently wrapping up week 1 of 8 of yard operations (what we call YX) by myself with no trainers. Today I had a former military and police veteran as a supervisor and he was just up on my ass the entire time while I was moving that train in the yard, it was nerve-wrecking. TEN HUT!

Just to offer perspective, there are about 5.5k operators. Within the next 5 years, 75% of operators will retire, others will move up. There'll be a lot of vacancies. For the previous exam, MTA got up to 6k range but with a list extension of another 4 years. I spoke with a 2 year vet who was hired at the end of that list with a list # of 61xx.

In those 12 months, what kind of training or learning is it? and what are the time frame for each phase?

Wow we have a rare foreign visitor! Yea training is absolutely nuts and unnecessarily stressful. It's my opinion that schoolcar should be longer than 2.5 months, I think 4 would be adequate.

Rarely we get OT but once you finish schoolcar (2.5 months), there's lots of opportunities for OT during YX which is 2 months, then road ops for 2 months.

yes you do but it's like a mini drug test, they'll ask u to pee in a cup but will get the results immediately

You'll be on the top of the current list since they're up to 1800s. They'll def call you for the next class which should be anytime soon now. Late March or April definitely. They've gone 5 weeks without inducting a new class already. I was 33x and was hired 11/25/18. I'm at the midpoint of the program.

I appreciate you posting your experiences too. It'll help me learn and "review" for my YX! I'll be by myself and I'm getting nervous thinking about it. I don't wanna be that guy gapping with 2 cars lol I believe tk 5 on the upper level is the overhanging move if there's a train laid up at the back already (there is another track that is similar on the upper lvl, can't remember the number). This is the track where you'll see a bumper block with a marker signal at the head out. In order to pull into the station you look at 3 things: 1) train departing out of 179 2) switch, make sure it's set for you 3) home signal entering the terminal should clear (look out the left window) In both my posting at 179, i never got the chance to lay up a train going from 179 to JYD portal to Parsons. I didn't even think this was a move until you posted it, thanks! Another weird thing about 179 is going into the station from the lower relay tracks, you can coast up hill at 10 mph without losing speed.

I'm sure you can post it on here or start your own thread

last day of yard posting at 179! Midnights switching is a whole different animal...so many bums on the trains. Almost stepped on crap walking between cars. Our subway is so filthy, NYPD has to crack down on these bums. They urinate, defecate, sprawl out on seats, stinking up cars.

day 14 of 15 back at coney island yard. I was skiing with the R160 this early morning! As I was winding down my shift, I ran into my AM trainer from last week who was just signing in. For once I feel like I'm starting to know people. PS: those chairs in the locker room are the best chairs in the system

April 1 class is an obvious april fool's joke. Don't you guys see this?!

day 13 of 15 @ Jamaica Yard. There was an issue with the barn doors so I was held outside for 2 hours staring at a low home signal... Had a putin from parsons blvd to 179. My trainer drove from the yard and parked right outside the station lol.