ATLANTA — Norfolk Southern is increasing conductor trainee pay to $25 per hour, with a minimum of $200 in earnings per shift, the railroad has announced.
Trainees will also be eligible for an on-the-job training incentive of $300 per biweekly pay period, provided they make themselves available to work.
“We are committed to ensuring our newest team members are well-compensated while they work toward qualifying as conductors,” Brad Dodd, director of talent acquisition, said in a press release. “Norfolk Southern is a great fit for those who want responsibility, autonomy, and take pride in the work they do. We offer competitive compensation, best-in-class healthcare benefits, technical training, and professional growth opportunities.”
The railroad is also offering up to $5,000 in starting bonuses at priority locations and up to $2,500 in starting bonuses elsewhere. Priority locations include Bellevue, Ohio; Binghamton, N.Y.; Cincinnati; Conway, Pa,; Decatur, Ill.; Elkhart, Ind.; Fort Wayne, Ind.; Harrisburg, Pa.; Louisville, Ky.; Peru, Ind.; Princeton, Ind,; and Roanoke, Va.
Those interested can apply online at the NS jobs website.
NS, like the majority of Class I railroads, has experienced crew shortages in the wake of pandemic-related and other cuts in manpower. In the revised service recovery plan it filed with the Surface Transportation Board on June 23, the railroad said it had 7,052 qualified train and engine employees as of June 20, with a system-wide goal of 7,543 such employees.
…joke is on the trainees. They will take a pay cut when they mark up /qualify as a conductor at 80% of conductor’s wage. Welcome to the railroad.
Yes they now cover the cost of training(except you have to get yourself there but get mileage reimbursement). They have also changed the training classroom period to 3 weeks. OJT is about 4 months.
This article didn’t clarify that prior to this pay change you would get $185 for basic day(8 hours) but you would more often than not work over that to regularly 10 hours if not 12. You now get paid for every hour worked with the $200/8hr minimum.
Do they cover training costs? When I inquired about working there some 30 years ago, I had to cover expenses (travel, motel, food) out of pocket during the 6 week training course with no guarantee of being hired afterwards. That was a non-starter with the wife staying home with the small children.