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and destination and the engineers' willingness to allow the apprentices to operate the train.
The system general road foreman testified that Amtrak requires coordinators from its transportation department to observe the apprentices weekly during their OJT. In addition, both the coordinators and the instructing engineers are to evaluate the apprentices' progress in writing. He also said that apprentices give instructing engineers a performance evaluation form to complete after the trip (See appendix D) According to one apprentice engineer, the purpose of any forms he was given was solely to verify that he had ridden the train.
No apprentice or recently trained engineer indicated to Safety Board investigators that the system general road foreman or the class coordinator had ridden with them to observe their performance. One instructing engineer recalled that a training class coordinator had asked him how well individual apprentices were doing and whether a particular apprentice was ready. A recently trained engineer said that he was not aware of any evaluation of his performance other than this questioning of one of his instructing engineers. No engineer questioned by Safety Board investigators said he had received any training or preparation for his instructing duties.
The manager of engineer training said that expected completion times for OJT ranged from 3 to 6 months, depending on the abilities of the students in the class. The coordinator for the Boston classes stated that OJT was limited to 3 months, but he recalled giving one apprentice more than 1 year, another 11 months, and a third 10 months. He also stated he himself had decided when apprentices were ready to leave the OJT phase in the last two classes. According to the manager of engineer training, the school does not participate in the advancement of engineers after they leave the classroom phase except for scheduling the simulator, and the school staff does not follow up during OJT.
Final Evaluation of Apprentices—The system general road foreman said that the final evaluation or certification of apprentices before they become engineers is done on the IIT simulator. An Amtrak official oversees this procedure, which is conducted by IIT staff. When an apprentice has passed his certification examination on the simulator, the Amtrak engineer training school is notified. Officials at the school in turn notify the class coordinators in the transportation department. The apprentice is then considered a qualified engineer and can "mark up" for service in his division. If the apprentice does not pass this examination, he returns to OJT and arrangements are made for retesting. In the most recent class, some apprentices took their certification examination on the simulator before they had completed their OJT. Safety Board investigators were told that currently, if apprentice engineers fail the training program, they are not permitted to return to their previous jobs and are terminated by Amtrak. Apprentices stated that the possibility of losing their jobs put them under great pressure.
Program Administration—The system general road foreman testified that the engineer training program is one of his responsibilities but also stated that his relationship with program staff and supervisors is advisory. He said that he did not have any knowledge of Amtrak training for any crafts other than the engineer training program.
The system general road foreman identified a line of authority for the engineer training program from a senior director of training in the human
