Title: Railway Education for the Greater Good

Transcription

1 Title: Railway Education for the Greater Good Authors: Dallas Richards, PE MBA (AREMA Cmte. 24 Past President) TranSystems 4390 Belle Oaks Drive, Suite 220 North Charleston, SC (843) Number of Words: 1,008 Bruce Anderson, PE (AREMA Cmte. 24) TranSystems 2777 Allen Parkway, Suite 500 Houston, TX (713) Ashley Backhus, CTSM (AREMA Cmte. 24 Secretary) TranSystems 2400 Pershing Road, Suite 400 Kansas City, MO (816) Abstract: According to the AAR, nearly a quarter of the railroad workforce is eligible to retire in In addition to hiring people to replace those retirees, training will also be a necessity to ramp up the learning curve of these new hires on the rail industry. In 2013, TranSystems developed a cross-training program designed to target specific educational needs of the railway industry. There are two basic elements of the program known as TranSystems Railway Engineering Education Seminars or TREES for short. The first element is meant to benefit external clients and consists of an outreach program where TranSystems personnel work closely with a representative from a Class I Railroad to identify specific, technical education needs for their staff and then work with a subject matter expert to develop and deliver the curriculum to their staff. The second element is a structured internal training program for TranSystems staff. The inaugural internal TREES program launched with a cohort of 12 participants and began their training with matriculation at TranSystems corporate headquarters in March 2014 and ended with graduation at the AREMA Annual Conference in Chicago, IL. Along the way they received 25 hours of instruction time on various technical topics relevant to railway engineering, a guided tour of a local yard facility, a mentor and rail project work to enable them to put their new knowledge to practice. The TREES program continued in 2015 with the second cohort of participants but also included students from Class I railroads, thereby combining the two elements into one comprehensive learning program to improve the knowledge base of the industry. AREMA

2 Paper: INTRODUCTION Within the rail engineering industry, there has been a growing demand for qualified rail engineers at all skill levels. The American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association (AREMA) has increased its programming efforts and student outreach to recruit more engineers into the rail engineering niche. Quantitative data is also supporting the anecdotal trends the industry is seeing. According to the Association of American Railroads (AAR), more than 15,000 people will be hired by American railroads this year. (1) That number is exclusive of the consultants and contractors that help support our railroads. In addition to the effort to educate students about railroad engineering, companies are ramping up their mentoring and educational efforts to train existing staff to help with the increasing workloads brought on by maintenance and expansion of our nation s railroad infrastructure. TRANSYSTEMS RAILWAY ENGINEERING EDUCATION SEMINARS (TREES) TranSystems is a nationwide transportation consulting firm with many years of freight railroad engineering experience. Like the railroads, TranSystems also has seen the increasing need for qualified rail engineers available to serve its client base. Many of our existing engineers have been involved with AREMA for many years and have volunteered in many capacities, including teaching seminars like the Introduction to Practical Railway Engineering (IPRE) and Track Alignment Design Seminar (TADS). One of our volunteer seminar instructors is also an adjunct professor at the University of South Carolina. As a transportation-focused consulting firm, TranSystems serves the freight rail market, as well as the passenger rail and transit, airports, ports, states and municipalities and companies needing multi-modal and transportation support markets. The company saw an opportunity to create a cross-training program with the current stable of engineers and teach them the nuances of railway engineering. Dallas Richards joined TranSystems in 2012 and had been thinking about a way to bring rail education into a company to provide continuing education. He had already done so with clients by conducting brown bag seminars. Dallas brown bag program was the inspiration for a 16-module program, which we ve termed TREES. Building a structured curriculum was just the foundation of the TREES program. A selection process was developed to attract novice engineers as well as some more accomplished professionals who wanted to work on rail projects. A kick-off for the program was held in person that included seven of the modules, a site visit at a local railroad yard, a team building dinner and a mentor assignment. The first seven modules began with railroad basics and increased in technical railway engineering information. The modules included: Railway Industry Overview Track Basics & Alignment Design Tractive Effort and Track/Train Dynamics Special Trackwork Industry Service Railroad Drainage & Analysis Tools Design Coordination Considerations After the two-day kick-off meeting, participants continued the modules via webinar format. The subsequent module topics included: Railroad Bridge Basics Maintenance & Construction Mainline Clearance and Capacity Improvements Railroad Retaining Walls AREMA

3 Grade Crossings Intermodal & Transload Facility Design High Speed Rail Design Passenger/Transit Design Environmental Considerations After each module, a quiz is given to ensure comprehension of the subject matter. After the last module is presented a comprehensive quiz is given that covers topics from each of the 16 modules. Each of TranSystems participants are then invited to attend the AREMA conference. In 2015, TranSystems opened the TREES program up to a few Class I railroads that had shown interest in the program after hearing about its success from its first year. For them, and other participants that regularly work on rail projects, participation in the program is about learning about other departments and gaining knowledge from the seasoned instructors whom have an in-depth knowledge of the evolvement of the railroad industry. In addition to helping TranSystems leadership develop this program, Dallas Richards, PE, is also one of three core instructors for the program. Dallas has 20 years of experience with a background in structures. He is an IPRE instructor, past AREMA Committee 24 Chair and is currently an adjunct professor at the University of South Carolina. The second core instructor Bruce Anderson, PE, has 36 years of experience, is a TADS instructor, member of AREMA s Committee 24 and is a former railroad employee. The third core instructor Dave Irving, PE, has 37 years of experience, is a TADS instructor, member of AREMA s Committees 14 and 24 and is a former railroad employee. In addition to the core instructors, Mitch Lambeth, PE, LEED AP; Marian Rule, PE; David Phillips, AICP; Grace Dysico, PE; and Barb Frost, PE guest instruct for specific program modules. PROGRAM RESULTS Currently in its second year, the TREES program is on track to award 14 certificates of completion this year, in addition to the 12 that completed the TREES program last year. TranSystems has an annual employee survey to gauge employee satisfaction. From 2012 to 2014, the TREES participants showed the highest results and represented the largest span of improvement in the entire company. We anticipate the same results with this years program participants as well. In addition to the scoring, our TREES participants have continued to ask for more training and even more in-depth information on various aspects of the services we provide. This year, we created TREES II, once monthly webinars discussing more advanced topics including hydraulics and hydrology and compressed air. We have also continued our TREES brown bags with our clients. As projects continue to evolve and use new technologies and techniques, we can help share useful information that is worth PDH credits. CONCLUSION The attrition rate in the rail industry is something that the railroads and consultants have to deal with. Education is a great way to help train and cross-train those individuals that develop a passion for the rail engineering industry. We can support schools to help recruit engineers to focus on rail, but we can also help cross-train our existing staff to expand our resources more rapidly. TranSystems TREES program is one example of identifying a need and responding to better serve the needs of our clients through training. References: 1. AREMA

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5 State of the Industry According to AAR, Nearly 25% Rail Workforce Eligible to Retire 2015 Need for Qualified Staff Training is Necessary Training Program Development Existing Brown Bag Seminars Inspiration for Full Program Program Basics TranSystems Railway Engineering Education Seminars (TREES) 16 Modules and Quizzes Kick-Off Meeting Site Visit Team Building Mentor Assignment Invitation to AREMA Annual Conference Level 100 Railway Industry Overview Track Basics & Alignment Design Tractive Effort and Track/Train Dynamics Special Trackwork Level 200 Industry Service Railroad Bridge Basics Railroad Drainage & Analysis Tools Design Coordination Considerations Learning Objective Examples TREES 202: Railroad Bridge Basics Bridge Types (Substructure, Superstructure) Loading E80 vs. HS-20 Live Load Moment Special Design Considerations AREMA MRE Inspection & Maintenance Other Structures AREMA

6 Level 300 Maintenance & Construction Mainline Clearance and Capacity Improvements Railroad Retaining Walls Grade Crossings Level 400 Intermodal & Transload Facility Design High Speed Rail (HSR) Design Passenger/Transit Design Environmental Considerations Learning Objective Examples TREES 401: Intermodal and Transload Facilities Basic Terminology Definitions Intermodal Industry Overview Key Elements to Keep in Focus Intermodal Planning Rules of Thumb Design Considerations Intermodal Examples DBB vs. DBD Core Instructors Dallas Richards, PE 20 Years of Experience Past AREMA Committee 24 Chair Adjunct Professor at University of South Carolina Bruce Anderson, PE 36 Years of Experience Committee 24 Member TADS Instructor Dave Irving, PE 37 Years of Experience Committee 24 Member TADS and Intermodal Engineering Seminar Instructor Guest Instructors Mitch Lambeth, PE, LEED AP Drainage Marian Rule, PE HSR David Phillips, AICP Passenger Transit and Rail Grace Dysico, PE and Barb Frost, PE - Environmental Site Visit BNSF s Argentine Yard, Kansas City, KS Maintenance Shop Hump Yard Tower AREMA

7 AREMA Conference Invitation to Conference Receive Certificate Guide to Get Most Out of Participation Program Results Nearly 25 Certificates Awarded Annual Employee Survey Results Highest Scores Companywide Largest Span of Improvement in Past Two Years Industry at Large Railroad Owners Individual Participants Program Benefits Expansion Annual Program Continuation Cross-Train Additional Staff TREES II Once Monthly Webinars Open to Everyone at TranSystems Specific and More Advanced Topics TREES External Brown Bags Lunch and Learns Industrywide Railway Education for the Greater Good Dallas Richards, PE, MBA Bruce Anderson, PE Ashley Backhus, CTSM AREMA