Today’s railroads need cost-effective and flexible training choices.

That’s exactly what The Railway Educational Bureau provides through Work Site Training. We offer work site training for locomotive mechanical and electrical training, freight car maintenance and inspection training, and Track Safety Standards training.

Railway Work Site Training

Work site training allows you to:

  • Maximize your training investment
  • Reduce employee time away from the job
  • Reduce travel costs by having the instructor come to your location
  • Increase the skill level of your employees Improve productivity
  • Achieve your training objectives
  • Utilize your in-house expertise, equipment, and facilities

Work site training is one of the most beneficial forms of training we offer the rail industry.

Our work site training classes have provided many companies with a cost-effective format for productive training—especially when you have six or more employees to train. Your employees receive classroom and hands-on training with the tools and equipment they use every day from our experienced instructor. You tell us where and when you want the training and we’ll be there.

We’ve presented a wide variety of Work Site Training sessions to our clients for a wide range of employees. Some of the employees we’ve trained have been new to the industry and some bring years of experience. Regardless of the experience level of your employees, we can tailor our training to fit your needs. 

Hosting a work site training session can have benefits beyond the scope of the primary training initiative. For instance, our instructors may get the rare opportunity to observe your employees perform within their environment. This can lead to discovering ways for your organization to become more efficient. In the past, our instructors have observed behavior that has enabled them to make suggestions to help our clients. These suggestions have included such things as increasing AAR billing, fine-tuning repair procedures, and implementing more efficient ways for employees to use tools and equipment at their disposal.

When you choose to take advantage of work site training, you’ll be in control. You’ll need to supply the employees to be trained, the classroom, and, depending on the topic being presented, some basic tools and equipment. We supply the instructor and training materials necessary.

Work site training is a great way to maximize your training budget.

In addition to having our instructor on your premises, you’ll save on travel expenses normally associated with training groups of employees. The Railway Educational Bureau (REB) will handle all travel arrangements necessary for our instructors—giving you less to worry about. Oftentimes, the REB instructor is the only one doing any significant travel—this means less downtime for those being trained when compared to sending them away for learning.

We’ll help you choose the right curriculum for your needs. The REB has a wealth of experience, training manuals, textbooks, training aids, and instructors to draw from. We’ll analyze your needs and help you select the best combination of resources to address your training criteria. We can even incorporate your specific safety rules and policies to deliver a comprehensive training package that is compliant with the DOT’s Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) regulations and Association of American Railroads (AAR) rules.

Our work site training classes are presented by experienced instructors who know and understand the railroad industry. You can rest assured that the training you and your employees receive is second to none. Our instructors come from the railroad industry and have time-tested experience in their presentation skills and technical knowledge.

Contact us today to see how we can help you arrange a work site training program at your facility.

Locomotive

Locomotive Periodic Inspection and FRA Rules Compliance

  • Review and correct/update periodic inspection instructions and forms.
  • Assure that inspection forms and instructions comply with current FRA rules.
  • Provide instruction and hands-on training to employees that perform periodic
    inspection of locomotives.

Locomotive Electrical Maintenance and Troubleshooting

  • Locomotive electrical system overview, circuit analysis, component maintenance
    of EMD and GE locomotives 1960 to present.
  • Locomotive electrical system hands-on troubleshooting of EMD and
    GE locomotives 1960 to present.
  • Traction motor, DC main generator, Traction Alternator hands-on maintenance training.

Locomotive Air Brake Maintenance and Troubleshooting

  • Locomotive consist outbound air brake testing and troubleshooting.
  • Periodic inspection in-bound and out-bound air brake tests and troubleshooting.
  • 26L Air Brake maintenance training ranging from air brake fundamentals, system
    component/general troubleshooting, to detailed system functions/high level
    troubleshooting.
  • Electronic Controlled Locomotive Air Brake maintenance training ranging from
    air brake fundamentals, system component/general troubleshooting and testing,
    to detailed system functions/high level troubleshooting.
  • Classroom and Hands-on training for EPIC, FASTBRAKE, CCB-2, and
    CCB26 E-Brake systems.

Freight Car

Freight Car Inspection and Repair

  • Freight car nomenclature
  • AAR Field Manual Familiarization Rules 1 thru 83
  • Introduction to FRA Safety Appliances (Part 231)
  • FRA Freight Car Safety Standards (Part 215)
  • Draft system defects and repairs
  • Inspecting draft system and center sills (Hands-on)
  • Truck and Wheel defects. Roller Bearing and adapter defects
  • Hands-on Gauging/Measuring wheel and truck defects
  • Jacking cars for under deck repairs and wheel change-out

Train Yard Safety

Rail Yard Safety

  • General safety rules and procedure for personnel working in rail yards.
  • Walking in rail yard, mounting and dismounting standing and moving equipment.
  • Movement of equipment.
  • Hand-signal and radio rules.
  • Danger of operating in areas with close clearance.

Blue Signal Rules

  • Placement of Blue Signal Protection, including Blue Signals, operation and
    securing manual switches, operation and placement of portable and permanent
    derail equipment.
  • Chocking and protecting cars prior to going on, under, or between them.

Moving rail cars safely

  • Brief description of operation of hand and air brake systems of freight cars.
  • Emphases on not moving cars until you are sure they can be stopped safely.

Hands-on Demonstration

  • Inspection and operation of manual switches and derails.
  • Inspecting couplers and cars prior to movement.
  • Applying and releasing hand brakes.
  • Coupling and uncoupling end air hoses.

Air Brake System

Single Car Air Brake Test

  • Fundamentals of Freight Train Air Brakes
  • Single Car Air Brake Component Identification and Function
  • Daily Test, Single Car Test and Special Tests
  • Review AAR S-486 Single Car Air Brake Test Procedures
  • Hands-on Single Car Air Brake Test and Daily Test

FRA Part 232 Brake System Safety Standards for freight and
other non-passenger trains

  • Review Brake System Safety Standards definitions and extent of the regulations.
  • Class l Brake Tests – Initial Terminal Inspections
  • Measuring Piston Travel
  • Review piston travel decals
  • Hands-on “Class l Brake Test”
  • Performance Evaluation “Class l Brake Test”