News

Center Convenes Committees Addressing Training & Recruitment for the Public Transportation Industry

Posted May 2013

This week, the Center is convening three industry working groups in Silver Spring, MD to address the major challenges facing transit nationally:
• Signals Training Consortium
• Career Pathways/Career Ladders Committee
• Rail Vehicle Committee

These groups also came together to coordinate efforts and strategize on furthering the broader mission of strengthening public transportation occupations through systems for expanding the pipeline for qualified new recruits and quality training within the public transportation industry.  During the open panel discussion each group is reporting out on their individual efforts (more below). 

Following the panel discussion,  senior officials from DOT, US DOL and the US Department of Education highlighted their current initiatives to expand training, apprenticeship and education opportunities for the frontline blue collar workforce.  Vince Valdes, Associate Administrator of FTA, is reporting on FTA’s new safety initiatives and how FTA is beginning to implement MAP-21’s new training provisions.  DOL’s John Ladd, Administrator of the Office of Apprenticeship, is updating the group on DOL’s project to provide college credit for work-based learning in registered apprenticeship programs.  Johan Uvin, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Education for Adult and Experiential Learning, is sharing the latest news on Career and Technical Education partnerships to expand the pipeline of qualified applicants for technical jobs in industries like transit.

Signals Training Consortium
The recently formed Signals Training Consortium is having its kick-off meeting on May 29 and 30.  This consortium brings together nearly 20 transit agencies and their unions to create a nationally recognized standards based hands-on and classroom training program.  Modeled after the Center’s successful Transit Elevator-Escalator Training Consortium, this project will also focus on compiling and creating standardized courseware, a train-the-trainer program and applying for and implementing a nationally recognized apprenticeship program.

This meeting will serve to get all locations on the same page as far as process and timeline.  Over half of the meeting is being devoted to actual courseware development.  Small working groups of Subject Matter Experts are developing courseware for track circuits, switches/train stops and grade crossings.  These groups start by examining existing learning objectives, discussing the scope of each course and starting to identify resources.  These small work groups are the backbone of the Center’s joint labor-management courseware development model.

Career Pathways and Career Ladders FTA Grant—Working Meeting
Labor, management, academic and education representatives from five transit locations around the country met for the first time on Wednesday, May 29 and Thursday May 30.  Project leaders are sharing information and work on the development of innovative workforce models to help the industry move forward on building pathways into the transit workforce and on establishing and strengthening career ladders for new and incumbent frontline workers.  Philadelphia (SEPTA and TWU 234,) Utah (UTA and ATU Local 382,) and West Virginia (WV State Department of Education and the Rahall Transportation Institute) are sharing a variety of career pathways projects for youth, including outreach, job shadowing, internships for high schools students interested in transit careers, along with the development of connections with and curriculum for Career and Technical Education programs in high schools and continuing paths to a degree with community colleges.  For career ladders, Cleveland (GCRTA and ATU Local 268) are working on apprenticeship in railcar, while Des Moines is focused on (DART and ATU Local 441) a bus maintenance apprenticeship.  In addition to sharing expertise and perspectives across pathways and ladders locations, the groups are hearing from and engaged in discussions with representatives from the Department of Labor’s Office of Apprenticeship and the Department of Education’s Office of Vocational and Adult Education.

Rail Vehicle Training Standards Committee
On May 30 and 31 the Rail Vehicle Training Standards Committee is holding its last meeting for the TCRP E-7 Project for Rail Vehicle Technician System of Qualification.  Over the course of this five-year project, the Center has worked with locations to strengthen their local training systems and courseware as well as create a skills assessment system.  The Committee also constructed a credential management system which will track the results of each applicants training hours and assessments.  At the meeting, select sites are reporting back on their experiences on piloting the newly formed qualification system.  Additionally, the group is discussing challenges for implementation and holes in their current training systems.  These items will lead the push for forming a Rail Vehicle Training Consortium in the coming years.