LIRR / MNRR : Working Conditions

I've been reading on these boards about how miserable it can be working for a class I RR (Freight, for example; CSX, NS, UP).
few days off, 12 hour days, no ability to make advanced plans, constant calls to come to work, away from home for long periods etc...

i was wondering if anyone knew how this contrasted to the working conditions of the Long Island Rail Road or to Metro-North Rail Road? (Or even Amtrack, in the northeast).
is there a significant difference in the quality of life of employees of the LIRR / MNRR compared to the freight RR's ?

Working conditions at the LIRR are absolutely fantastic compared with the industry. The only drawback is nights/weekends, which you'll be working in the crafts until you have sufficent seniority to own day work.

Aside from petty political nonsense, the biggest problem you'll contend with is the huge cost of living on Long Island vs. the LIRR's workingman's pay.

The pay is good, but considering that you'll need an income in the vicinity of $150,000/year to purchase the average $500,000 home, you'll have to be creative to have a nice quality of life.

Clemuel.

Well if people claim themselves being miserable working for any of those Class I railroads, they should have known what they were going to be up against before they hired on. If they hadn't taken the time out to see what's under the surface at all, that was foolish on their part. Before anyone makes a serious career consideration such as a railroad job, much investigating should be done before actually taking a position. Many freedoms are taken away from one's personal life in order to secure such a highly sought after job. But once a railroad employee realizes how secure his/her life is with benefits, pay and eventually pension/retirement, they should be a bit more thankful to their employer. Keep in mind, I am only speaking for what I have seen on the LIRR. It's quite obvious that not all railroads are up to LIRR's benchmarks in terms of perks, but it's relevant either way. CSX, NS and UP are probably not that bad of a railroad to work for, but there are points in employee's careers there that they just are fed up and want out. Maybe they realize they made the wrong career choice?

Speaking from my personal standpoint, I am a college student looking to secure a job on the Long Island Railroad. The Railroad would give me what I am looking for in life and I'd be much more than willing to give up many of my personal freedoms to have a job there. I would be loyal to the LIRR for them giving me a career-and I would treat it as gold. It is this type of mentality that railroads would like to see - that you are ready and willing to do your job without any objection and be there when needed. If you know what you're up against, good luck.

Joe

For all our griping and moaning about the LIRR our pay and benefits are the envy of even nearby railroads. with all due respect emfinite I think you are being unfairly harsh with your "they should have known" comment.

First, you'll make a great manager on your next job. Whether it's the LIRR or digging a ditch every working man or woman should have decent wages, benefits and safe working conditions. If you get hired, you'll set labor relations back a 100 years.

Second, and probably most importantly, if you have mouths to feed and a roof to keep over your families head you may have not have the option or choice to "research" or "comparison shop" the railroad pay and bennie scales the way you suggest.

Keep in mind that a railroader anywhere, faces long hours, a dangerous job and works night, holidays and in every weather condition. I say pay him the decent wage and let him/her keep America moving.

I disagree BMC. Emfinite is right with people having to realize what they are getting themselves into.

When you are applying for a job you should be aware of the things that will be required of you on the job. It can be as little as the dress code to the hours expected of you to work. Especially on the railroad, it would be foolish to think your job would be a 7-5, Mon-Fri. You know damn well if you get hired you will be working holidays, thru any kind of weather conditions, etc etc. If you say your job "sucks" well.... you knew what you were getting yourself into before you even did it.

I've already seen that this is a type of job that will be as fun and rewarding as you make it to be. I've already seen people on both sides of the fence.

There are those of us who work in the industry, or for a particular railroad who simply would never think of working elsewhere.

After several decades of nights, weekends, storms and rains, I still look forward to coming to the job. It's my company, these are my friends and coworkers. I know every inch of the place, its people, lots of its history and the things that make it work well and not work at times.

I don't know many others who look forward to getting up to go to work, or are excited when the phone rings and they have to run out to correct a problem. I have been blessed for following my heart and selecting a childhood dream as a livelihood.

To me, there just isn't any other place I'd rather work, and those who feel a love for the rails shouldn't let economics keep them from fulfilling that dream...

Clemuel

I agree with you Clem. It definitely is important to do what you will enjoy doing as far as work. People just need to keep in mind that no matter where you work, or what work you do...there will always be atleast ONE thing that you can't stand. But, if you can supress that one dark side and concentrate on the things you enjoy about the job, then you'll be very happy and you will see yourself rewarded. Working for the railroad as part of a train service crew has been my childhood dream too. Currently, and I know some of you know this, I work for a freight railroad. While I do miss interacting with customers (before the railroad I worked 6 years in retail), it's a great feeling working on the train. You do have the take the job seriously while you're on it, but it is ok to enjoy it. Most of the locomotives that we have are GP38-2s, and hearing one of those rev up brings back great memories of my dad and I sitting in the tailgate of his Jeep on a sunday morning eating McD's hotcakes and watching the trains stop at Mineola station, and then start up again under the old bridge with the two soot trails. It feels great being productive too, the other day my engineer and I were assigned to just stay in the yard and switch it out. We build the southbound pick up for the road job, and moved most of the cars that had been sitting there for a week or two...and it felt great to make progress on cleaning up the yard. So basically, if you make the best of it, you will really enjoy the job....if you only concentrate on the down sides of the job, it'll suck for ya.

What I've heard that some railroads do is, after the interview, they will set you up to ride along with a crew for a week or two and just observe. They'll do this before training, so that you can get a real look into what you're getting into.

So something to think about, working for the railroad is a very unique job, it can be demanding, but at the same time it is fun, rewarding, and will keep you busy (Something I like, because I hate just sitting around doing nothing)

Clemuel wrote:There are those of us who work in the industry, or for a particular railroad who simply would never think of working elsewhere.

I also agree with you on that. The only way that I would quit working at the current railroad I'm with now would be if I had a better job offer from another railroad (higher pay, or the opportunity to work with customers again on a commuter railroad)

Working for either the LIRR or Metro North is a decent gig. After all their both run by a quasi-government agency.

In the end, the LIRR is the better agency to work at. (better wages & better working conditions)

Most of the Metro North forum posters at Railroad.net work in Transportation and have a different view of the working conditions at Metro North.

70% of the crafts at Metro North have been with out a contract for over 2 1/2 years.

BMC I think you are being way too harsh on Emfinite and your assessment of what he wrote is way off base.

I know him personally and he would in no way "set back labor" a hundred years as you stated. People with his frame of mind would actually enhance labor's image as a more dedicated workforce who appreciates what they got. Unionized labor in this Country has a poor image of a workforce that is only looking to drain their employers of whatever they can for as little work as possible. In some cases this is true but not always. So why is it that someone like him cannot be the opposite of that mentality and not be considered an asset to his coworkers and Union?

Unions spend an aweful lot of time defending crybabys and malcontents. Regardless of what you said about Joe, my Union would welcome a member like him because he would not embarrass them as an incompetant who only keeps a job due to union protection. Whenever they sit down with the LIRR and talk contracts, they get the actions of the knuckleheads thrown in their face and have to make concessions to keep their jobs. In addition, they would welcome him because he would be loyal to the Carrier in the sense that he would do his job to the fullest and earn what he draws in salary and be the kind of worker that the Union throws back in the face of the Carrier at contract time as a reason why the LIRR runs at all and it's workforce is in need of decent wages.

I am an employee of the LIRR for 20 years, am not in management nor want to be. Although you may disagree with me I am telling you how I feel from my personal perspective and experience. I sincerely hope you reconsider what you wrote about him because if you knew him as well as I you would think differently about this. Thanks!

I guess people watch the news too much and only think the LIRR employs people who bring sleeping bags to work. It's true that there are some people who work for the LIRR who are a waste of space and time, and who are a drain on the company, but there are people like that at any company! I don't work for the LIRR, but most of the trains I've been on seem to have happy, dedicated crews working and keeping things going on time and in the safest possible manor.

I retired eight years ago after forty one years with the New Haven and
subsequent railroads, ended up with Conrail in Selkirk but put in four years with Metro-North in the process.
I truly believe that a person (railfan or otherwise) should fully check into
just exactly what they are getting into before they go to work in the
railroad industry whether it be freight, Amtrak or commuter. It is a great
career if you make it that way, I enjoyed much of my work but there are
some dark sides too, you are out in all kinds of weather, day and night
and generally when every else both friends and family are home, you will
be working somewhere or sleeping and waiting for that telephone call.
As for Metro-North and the LIRR, their pay, work, conditions and benefits
very closly resemble each other and either one will land a person with a
good job.
One thing you need to know if you work for either MN or LIRR, you are
working for a state agency and you work under goldfish bowl like
conditions. Recently a newspaper in Westchester had a feature article
about the salaries of Metro-North employees most of whom were either
engineers or conductors.
One thing that a lot of people forget is that both of these railroads serve
an area that has about the highest cost of living of any place in the US and
these people HAVE to earn more just to maintain the same life that a
conductor or engineer would have to earn to maintain the same life say in
Florida, Texas, Colorado or elsewhere. Both railroads have jobs that do
a lot of "rail pounding" and when it come your time to sign up and head
out, it does not matter if you are not feeling quite up to par, you still have
to go do your job.
For the last ten years of my railroad career, I elected to give up my rights
with Metro-North and return to Conrail. This was mostly because I needed
a change in my living location (Queens) and that I was able to hold one of
the best freight assignments on the entire Conrail system. When I went
back to Conrail, I took a slight cut in my pay but my living expenses went
down more than enough to compensate for that pay cut and the overall
result was a benefit to me in many ways.
Railroading is probably like most other careers, if you KNOW just what you
are getting into, you will do fine, if you do not and expect a bed of roses
and peaches and cream, you will be in for a rude awakening.
Noel Weaver