To vest in the railroad retirement system requires 5 years of service with a railroad employer (or employers) covered by the Railroad Retirement Act. If you leave the railroad industry to work for a non-railroad employer before accruing 5 years in the Railroad Retirement system, you lose your Railroad Retirement benefits.
Vesting is with the Railroad Retirement Board, not the individual employer. If you move from one railroad employer covered by the Railroad Retirement Act to another covered by the RRA, you continue to accrue service time under the Act, and the combined time is used to determine vesting and, at retirement age, your benefit. You can work for 15 different railroads over the course of your career and all of the time you worked for those railroads counts towards your railroad retirement benefit.
Also, your service does not have to be continuous. You can work for a covered railroad employer for 4 years, leave to work for a non-railroad employer for a few years, and then go back to work for a covered railroad employer. If the combined time working in a covered railroad job adds up to at least 5 years, you will vest.
The key is working for a railroad employer covered by the RRA. Not all are; a notable exception is Brightline in Florida.
Jim
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Jim
Palm Beach County, FL