Two2Go

Look at it from the railroad's perspective...they have thousands upon thousands of applicants for very few positions. They can afford to be picky. On top of that, they are asking us to handle thousands of dollars in cash and safety-sensitive responsibilities. Credit report indicates how risky it is that the applicant might try to steal money (poor credit = high risk, obviously). Driving record indicates how responsible the applicant is. I wouldn't trust someone who has a DUI on their record to be able to open and close the doors safely, or throw a switch properly, etc etc. If they are OK with driving while drunk, how do I know they're not going to think its OK to show up to work drunk one day and open the doors off the platform at Nostrand Avenue? Some poor guy leaning against the doors then falls out of the train and falls to his death on Atlantic Ave. So, I guess to answer your question, "nah".

I don't think this would be a moving violation, unless you were issued a ticket as a result of the accident? I don't think it'll be a problem. I have a classmate who had a number of speeding tickets. He was rejected as an Engineer due to the speeding tickets, but they hired him as a conductor. One accident shouldn't cause a problem.

Honestly, if MNR is a sure thing and you live in the city or north of the city, I’d go with MNR. LIRR is great, but so is MNR. They also qualify you in class at MNR, which is totally different from how LIRR does it. Once you graduate, you’re done, no more studying, no more stressing about your job. If you’re out on LI, then you’ve got a harder decision to make. I think MNR only gives you two hours to report (versus LIRR with 3 or 3.5 hours depending on the terminal). Can you get to Poughkeepsie with two hours notice?

That's a tough question to answer, but I'll take a stab at it... Officially, we pick jobs twice a year (aka "General Pick"). Once in the spring and once in the fall. The reality is that because of "trimming", your job can change a lot more often than once every 6 months. So, here's what the reality is: At the "General Pick", everyone* picks a job, in seniority order. If there are more people than there are jobs, the people at the bottom of the roster don't get to own a job -- they become "Subject to Bid". They still work 5 days a week, covering assignments that are available, and they have days off (2 consecutive) assigned to them by the railroad. *Remember how I said "everyone" picks a job? Well, anyone on vacation the week of the General Pick, along with anyone that is out on long-term leave (medical, FMLA, whatever) during the General Pick, doesn't have to pick a job until they get back. But, in the interest of "fairness", these people get to take any job that is now below them on the roster. This is called "trimming". So, for example, if you are on vacation during the General Pick, the day you return from vacation, you will call up and put in a "trim" on whichever job you'd like that was picked by someone below you on the roster. That person will receive a phone call letting them know they were trimmed, and they will then have to do the same to someone below them on the roster. It goes on and on like that until the trims reach the bottom of the roster. When you are at the bottom and get trimmed with no more jobs below you available to trim, you become "Subject to Bid". Generally about 3 months into the "pick", the railroad will make minor adjustments to the schedule. For example, now that the summer is ending, they will stop running extra service out to the Hamptons and Montauk. Schedule changes mean that jobs are changing, and we call this a "revision". Anyone who's job is revised is automatically eligible to put in a trim, if they'd like to. So, if your job used to end at 11:01pm but now ends at 11:02pm, you can put in a trim on any job under you on the roster. If a train you work used to terminate in Farmingdale but now it terminates in Ronkonkoma, you can put in a trim on any job under you on the roster. You don't have to, but most people do. The number 1 guy on the roster never has to worry about being trimmed, no one is above him. Everyone else has to deal with trimming. Usually, the lower you are on the roster, the more trimming you will experience. It gets better with time, but when you're new, expect to be working all sorts of weird hours, changing schedules, etc. Trimming is absolutely the worst part of the job, but you get used to it.

My memory from the open house is that you do need to show ID when you arrive, but that was just to get the temporary pass for Hillside, and I'm guessing your open house is at Babylon, so that doesn't apply. I don't recall having to show them my driver's license until I was actually being offered the job a few months later -- I remember having to scan it in and e-mail it to Linda Oliver. I'm sure if they ask for an ID at the open house, your Learner's Permit will be fine. Good luck.

It's hard to give you a typical day as an A/C, there's a lot of variety. When you're new, you'll either be working as a brakeman (part of a crew) or a ticket collector. Brakeman stays with his crew (Conductor and Engineer) all day long, usually working 2 or 3 roundtrips. Ticket collectors bounce around from train to train, assisting the crews with ticket collection. Some jobs are short, some are flat (8 hours), some are long ($$$, max 12 hours a day). Some days you'll be gating (collecting tickets on the platform rather than on the train), like at Mets Willets Point during a game or concert. You should absolutely take the A/C job. As someone else said, anything LIRR is going to be superior to anything Transit. I don't know of anyone that has decided to leave LIRR for a Transit job, only the other way around. We get a pension, plus federal Railroad Retirement, plus great pay. Remember, LIRR doesn't fall under the Taylor Law, meaning we can strike and it's legal, unlike Transit. We are able to negotiate very good contracts thanks to that.

The newest class (8/22/2018) has 23 people in it. The roster hadn't completely updated when CGeorge looked at it. However, they can't always get exactly 24 into a class. Maybe the 24th person had something come up at their medical check, or maybe decided last minute they didn't want the job. Some classes wind up being as small as 10 or 15 people because they can't get enough people to pass all the tests in time to make that class. That doesn't seem to be the case any more though, since people who have passed S&Ds are now waiting forever to hear back.

Yeah, all of that information pertains just to engineers, not conductors. Conductors do not have class broken into "phase I" and "phase II" and conductors always receive their S&D grade (or at least knowledge of passing/failing) on the same day. The instructors are also not the same people, so most likely whoever he met was not a new instructor for conductors.

It sounds like they changed the process since most of us hired on (even from just 2.5 years ago for me). For my group, we did the background check before receiving the invitation to the S&D overview. The hiring process went relatively quickly after passing the S&D test. I was an employee less than a month after the test, and medical was only about 2 weeks before my start date. I got my offer only 11 days before class started. But again, things sound very different now, so my answer is probably useless to you.

Assuming everything goes well for you, assume at least 4 hours at the Open House. Definitely "dress for the job you want, not the job you have". I couldn't believe how many people showed up in jeans and t-shirts...none of them got hired.

For an A/C, they only ask for some of the signals and definitions. (For your Qualifying Book of Rules exam a couple years later, you will need to answer ALL the signals, and you must get 100% correct...but that's way off in the future so don't worry about it now). I wouldn't say it's like the S&D exam, because it's a whole lot more information than just signals and definitions. Again, those will be on your test (and you want as many as possible, since those are easy points for you), but they aren't the majority of the test. You will learn everything you need to know in those 5 weeks of class. Just make sure you pay attention, take great notes, ask questions when necessary, and study your ass off at home each night.

First exam is about 5 weeks into class, that is "Book of Rules". You need all your signals and definitions down perfectly, plus the buzzers, whistles, horns, hand signs, etc that they should have given you already, plus all the rules you are going to learn during those 5 or so weeks. Next is usually Air Brake. I forget how long we had for air brake instruction...maybe 2 weeks? It's pretty technical, so if that's not your thing, take good notes and pay attention. Generally a relatively easy test as long as you study. Then there's Tickets. Again, I forget how long we had for instruction on Tickets, maybe 3 weeks? I found tickets to be easy, but some people struggle with it. The final test is called "PTEP", I can't even remember what it stands for but it's nothing to worry about. They do some lessons on emergency preparedness, and they take you down into the tunnels to see the evacuation routes and stuff. I highly doubt that anyone has ever failed PTEP...I'm not even sure it's possible to fail. Overall, you really shouldn't worry too much about failing a test and losing the job. Statistically speaking, very few people fail out of the program, and the majority of those that do are not that "shocking" if you know what I mean. As long as you really want the job, you're going to keep the job.

Yeah, you're right, I didn't mean to make it sound like Air Brake is a joke or anything. Air Brake was actually my lowest score when I was in A/C class, I am not a mechanically-inclined person at all. That being said, Jimmy does a very good review the day before the test, there really shouldn't be any surprises. As long as you study the material, you will pass.

Someone failed out of the A/C program yesterday, on the Air Brake exam. No one should be failing out, and certainly not for Air Brake. You can read 40 pages of how hard it is to get hired, don't go blowing it by getting hired and then not studying.

The interview at the open house is nothing to worry about. They go over your resume with you, asking some basic questions about your experience. They are trying to make sure that you actually have the experience they are looking for (cash handling & customer service). Once you pass the Signals & Definitions there will be another, slightly more difficult interview. This interview is conducted by two transportation managers (former conductors), and they'll ask you scenario based questions, to see how you would react. Obviously you have not been trained by the railroad yet, but that is the point...they want to see what your natural instincts are. So for example, they asked me something like "You are working a train from Penn Station and a Knicks game just ended at MSG. The train is full of rowdy fans, and a group of guys are refusing to give you their tickets. What do you do?". I said something like "I would politely ask for their tickets again, and if they continue to refuse, I would excuse myself and ask another coworker on the train for further assistance." I had no idea what the real policy or procedure was, I just went with what I had previously seen riding on the trains as a passenger, and my customer service training from other jobs.

As bp98 said, giving you material to study from wouldn't be beneficial without the actual classroom instruction. Plus, everything we are given is considered by the railroad to be confidential. We could get fired for sharing that stuff with non-employees, even if you're about to be an employee. Just study the stuff you've already been given.

Classes are about 2.5 months. But you take the Book of Rules test approx. 5 weeks after starting class. Generally once you pass Book of Rules you've got nothing to worry about.

Yeah, this is why some people recommend trying to take a leave of absence from your current job when you start the program. I don't really think it's necessary, though. Most people don't fail out. The ones that do typically fail out on Book of Rules. Very few have ever failed Air Brake, and if anyone fails Tickets or PTEP....I don't know how they got there in the first place!

If you fail a quiz during AC class, nothing happens except the instructor will be pissed. If you fail an exam during AC class (Book of Rules, Air Brake, Tickets, or PTEP) you are immediately out of the program and fired from the railroad. For the qualifying process (approx. 2 years after hiring on), you have 7 chances to pass each test (Book of Rules, Physical Characteristics, Air Brake and Zone A). After failing any test 3 times, you are put Out of Service, meaning you can no longer work and earn an income until you pass all your tests. If you fail any test on the 7th chance, you are immediately fired from the railroad.

Honestly I was looking at it for the Qualifying Conductor class information, so I wasn't really paying that close of attention, but I believe it was September for the Block Operator class. Again, the whole thing was labeled tentative, so don't get too excited.

I think it's a safe bet that the written assignment and the interview count for something; they wouldn't waste their time doing them if they were for nothing. I don't personally know of anyone that passed the S&D and then never got the job, but some people do get called before others. I was one of the 6 that passed with bp98. Of the six that passed, 5 of us were in class together, and the 6th guy was in the class after us. His background check ran into some issues that took a long time to sort out. I know of another guy that took the S&D test with a bunch of my other classmates but was hired for a class that started almost 6 months after us. He doesn't know why it took so long to hear back, it just did. Perhaps he didn't do as well on the interview as my classmates did, or perhaps it's just luck. Long story short, I can imagine a scenario where someone just passes the S&D but performs so poorly on the interview that they decide to put his application on the back burner, and he eventually just gets forgotten about because they have other, better applicants ready to go. On an unrelated note, I was in Hillside earlier this week and saw a tentative copy of all the upcoming classes (not just for A/Cs, but also for Qualifying Conductors, Block Operators, etc). Everything is tentative obviously, but the August class, as of right now, has been assigned the same instructor that bp98 and I had, which is awesome for anyone that gets into that class. The September class was on the schedule but I don't recall seeing if an instructor was assigned. Nothing is set in stone, not even the Qualifying Conductor classes. They have 2 classes for Qualifying Conductors in September, but then the ones after that (Oct. and Nov.) might get cancelled. Remember, the training department does a whole lot more than just train new A/Cs. Just be patient and they'll hopefully get you into a class soon. They have done a LOT of hiring recently, so I don't know how many more people they really need to add at this point. We've been here just over 2 years now and have nearly 300 people under us on the roster, it's crazy.

Yes, you absolutely need to have your signals and definitions, as well as your buzzers, train horns, interlocking whistles and hand signs memorized perfectly. They're going to throw a lot more information at you once class starts, and they will not be happy if you can't even get something as simple as signals and definitions right. Get them down perfectly now, you're going to be happy you did in a couple years when it comes time to qualify. The first two days of class are just a generic new employee orientation. There might even be new hires from different departments in the room with you. On the third day (Friday), the actual class will start. You'll be given stuff to memorize verbatim over the weekend. On that Monday, you'll be quizzed on everything you've been given so far. It's not a test that can cause you to lose or job or anything like that, but it's a quiz for the instructor to see where you're at. The instructor will go totally nuts if people do badly on that quiz (and all the other quizzes that he or she will give out as class goes on). Remember, you only have about 5 weeks of class for the book of rules...it's a lot of information for such a short timeframe.

Honestly not sure, you'd have to check the postings for each of those jobs and see what the requirements are. Even for conductor, although college isn't required, it's definitely preferred. The vast majority of conductors that I've worked with have at least an associates degree.

No idea when the next posting will be, only HR knows that. From previous years, most postings seem to be done in the winter and spring, so December through March or so. That being said, they haven't done a class starting in June since 2013, so you can't always go by past practices to predict the future. Best advice is to just check the website daily and see if they post it. The last time it was posted was back in February, so who knows. Other jobs to look out for are CAMs and SAMs. CAMs (Car Appearance Maintainer) clean the trains and SAMs (Station Appearance Maintainers) clean the stations. They don't pay as much as conductor or engineer but they are good entry level positions. A lot of CAMs eventually apply for and become conductors.

24 new hires joined the roster today with a start date of 6/27/2018.