there are a few that I know of..........and Im sure many more than I haven't discovered.
Where abouts are you Fatal?
Railroad Forums
Dispatching
- General discussion about working in the railroad industry. Industry employers are welcome to post openings here.
Moderator: thebigc
by RRspatch
Fatal wrote:I'm in Louisiana now. I will be attending a Dispatching Training program in August. I was just curious where in the U.S. Dispatching centers are located.BNSF:
Main center is located in Fort Worth, Texas. Smaller regional centers are located in Kansas City, Houston (Spring), San Bernardino and Vancouver (Canada).
UPRR:
Main center is at Omaha. Smaller regional centers (joint with BNSF) are in Kansas City, Houston (Spring) and San Bernardino.
CSXT:
Four centers in Jacksonville, Indianapolis, Albany (Selkirk) and Chicago.
Amtrak:
Northeast Corridor - Philadelphia, New York and Boston.
Washington - Train Director at K tower
Chicago - Train Director at Lumber Street (Glass house)
Los Angeles - Train Director at Mission Tower (??)
FEC:
St Augustine
KCS:
Shreveport ?
NSRR
Has four or five centers, but off the top of my head I can't remember where.
MRL:
Helena ?
CP (SOO/D&H)
Minneapolis
CN (ICRR) (GTW?)
Chicago
Metrolink (Los Angeles)
San Gabriel ?
Caltrans (San Francisco - San Jose commuter line)
San Jose
Metra (lines that it owns)
Chicago
New Jersey Transit
Hoboken (Meadows Maintainence Center)
MBTA (lines out of North Station)
Boston (North Station)
That's all for now. Someone else will have to fill you in on the Canadian and Mexican lines. Also several smaller regional railroads also have train dispatchers
RRspatch
by RRspatch
Fatal wrote:Thanks for the info RRspatch. I received an e-mail this weeked from UP about a Dispatching position. They want me to come in to take the Ops Test. You wouldn't happen to have any info about those would you?Back when I took the BNSF Ops test back in 1996 it consisted of a 183 question psychological test (time limited) and a pattern recognition test. The psychological test was the most interesting as NONE of the questions related to railroading .... strange. The pattern recognition test involved being shown an odd looking box and 4 examples of what the same box looked like if it was unfolded and layed out flat. You had to chose the correct one of the four. I guess BNSF was looking for dispatchers who could think out side the folded box
After the tests a standard employment interview was given. (The usual rules apply here - you are NOT a Railfan and do not hang around railroads or Internet Railfan message boards. Wear a suit and tie and leave the camera and Trains Magazine at home.)
Mind you these test took place over seven years ago and I'm not sure what standard tests are used today.
Good luck with your Interview/test and keep us informed on how things turn out.
by Fatal
I just got back about an hour ago from Texas. The test was pretty simple...2 psyc test, a coding test (there is a box with 3 colums of info, the questions ask about the info), troubleshooting systems test (box of circuits, had to follow the flow to figure out which part failed)...After that I had an interview with 2 BNSF employees. I won't know the results of everything for about 2 weeks.
by RRspatch
Fatal wrote:I just got back about an hour ago from Texas. The test was pretty simple...2 psyc test, a coding test (there is a box with 3 colums of info, the questions ask about the info), troubleshooting systems test (box of circuits, had to follow the flow to figure out which part failed)...After that I had an interview with 2 BNSF employees. I won't know the results of everything for about 2 weeks.
You interviewed here in Texas (Fort Worth?) with BNSF. Was Sterling Barker on of the people giving the interview? Interesting. I thought you said you were interviewing with the BORG.
Interesting to see what the current per-employment tests are.
As I said before, let me know how things turn out.
RRspatch.
by Fatal
RRspatch wrote: You interviewed here in Texas (Fort Worth?) with BNSF. Was Sterling Barker on of the people giving the interview? Interesting. I thought you said you were interviewing with the BORG.
Interesting to see what the current per-employment tests are.
As I said before, let me know how things turn out.
RRspatch.
I interviewed in Fort Worth with BNSF and a the instructor from the program a couple weeks ago. I don't remember Sterling Barker in the room.
Today, I received the letter of acceptance! Class starts in a couple of months...I'm pretty ecstatic.
I haven't heard anything from Union Pacific though. Took the Dispatcher Test on June 22. Hopefully I will hear something from them soon as well. I would prefer to go to Omaha because it pays a lot better during training!
by RRspatch
Fatal wrote:
I interviewed in Fort Worth with BNSF and a the instructor from the program a couple weeks ago. I don't remember Sterling Barker in the room.
Today, I received the letter of acceptance! Class starts in a couple of months...I'm pretty ecstatic.
Well, it's off to Cho-Cho U for you ...
http://www.tccd.edu/programs/courses/co ... tmentID=17
The course is given at the Tarrent County College which is located just a few miles for the BNSF NOC.
I haven't heard anything from Union Pacific though. Took the Dispatcher Test on June 22. Hopefully I will hear something from them soon as well. I would prefer to go to Omaha because it pays a lot better during
Let me know when you start school.
training!
by scannergeek
While I'm certainly not an expert on any of this, I have a book of actual tests (with answers) for various professions. In it, there is a test for an air traffic controller.
What I found interesting is that most of the questions did not involve air traffic control. Most were pattern matching questions, in that you were given 4-5 symbols, and had to guess the next symbol. You were also given combinations of letters, such as "GHIFJKLE" and had to guess the next pattern of letters.
I think this tests if you can "think on your feet" as it is timed, and there were a bunch (probably about 30-40) of these questions.
What I found interesting is that most of the questions did not involve air traffic control. Most were pattern matching questions, in that you were given 4-5 symbols, and had to guess the next symbol. You were also given combinations of letters, such as "GHIFJKLE" and had to guess the next pattern of letters.
I think this tests if you can "think on your feet" as it is timed, and there were a bunch (probably about 30-40) of these questions.