project coordinator

boom operator

foreman

laborer

construction laborer

RailWorks Corporation

I have learned a great deal about the railway construction industry, something I was completely unfamiliar with when I accepted the position and in doing so I have had the pleasure of working alongside some extremely talented and brilliant colleagues. There is a decent amount of politics, employee turnover and organizational downsizing in some areas, all to be expected in such a project/construction based US company.  PNR is bottom-line results oriented therefore a high expectation to perform with maximum output, minimal error and the least amount of overhead.  Understandably there is little down time but workdays go by VERY quickly.  There truly are some really great people at PNR with abundant experience, skills and knowledge.  There is also some great mentoring and support, especially for the project teams and PM's but don't expect a lot of hand holding.

Training is non-existent and has caused a lot of blind leading the blind scenarios. First week of training consisted of watching videos made 10 years ago for "railway safety". Then after taking the quiz they stick you in a room by yourself for the rest of the week and give you a USB with poorly made PDF files and tell you to read the info. Second week they pair you with someone who is at most 2 years on the job and has no idea what they are doing. The people who know what they are doing either quit or refuse to train the new people. They rotate their shift every 2 weeks. Lastly everyone here is only looking out for themselves, do not trust anyone here. Many of them who stay are just trying to climb the ladder and will throw you under the bus as soon as anything bad happens.

Typical day is showing up to realizing you have a high probability of not having the right tool for the job. 
Culture was 50/50 
Management was horrific and usually had poor communication. 
Hardest part of job is constantly dealing with the result of poor organization for tools. Job scope. Communication.  It's all 6/1 shifts so there's no one coming to relieve you for time off.  All year all go and typically one day off a week or less. 
Lots of work hours which was nice. 
I learned this company was doing good and than has had this "hanging on by a thread" mentality.. Management seems to be the root of all issues since I've been working there. 

Poor:

Communication and organization, No discipline for poor work behaviors.  PNR? Planning / Not / Required. 

Company is relatively new in requirement driven contact works.Coming up with its own Engineering team to bring Design and Systems Engineering expertise to the group.A typical day at work is meetings, presentation, design reviews and followup emails with consultant and vendors.Learned new unknown Civil related construction techniques. Management is relatively new and evolving from restructuring. Coworkers are excellent within PNR. The hardest part of the job is managing design consultants and meeting scheduled milestones with least resistance. The most enjoyable part is Joint project team coexist and share the many company's philosophy under the same roof.

Great money good benefits the signals department is horrendously managed. Managers expect you to go out and work but provided no track time or even knew you had to call in advance for rule 842 protection. Safety is let’s say only a priority when they want it to be they expect you to reverse equipment and hi rail units on foot without a radio sometimes for a mile or 2 at night. The construction side was no better management actually knows what their doing in that department only problem is it’s very cliquey so if you don’t become buddies with supervisors and foremen they just write you off. 10/10 would not recommend anyone working here 

• Operate front-end loaders to load and off load tractor trailers of railway material, such as rail, ties, switch panels, etc.
• Distribute and layout material in accordance with foremen blueprints.
• Operate several types of rail-mounted heavy equipment, such as tamping machines, brooms, graders, and ballast cleaning machines to tamp ballast beneath and between ties, to clean tracks, to clean and redistribute ballast, and to grade and level ballast on railroad tracks
• Keep daily Inspection and Maintenance log, lubricate machines, change oil, and fill hydraulic reservoirs to specified levels.
• Assistant ground crew with such tasks as, bolting, drilling and cutting rail. Spiking and gauging rail safely into place.

I am part of the Signals and Communications department. We contract to all the major railway companies, such as CN, CP, GO, Via, etc; performing most installations and upgrades. We work on the communication aspect of the railway, including cabling, (underground or buried), signal masts and bridges, bungalows, (the brains of all communication). The nature of the job means that we are outdoors throughout the year and must adapt to changing conditions whether it be climate, location or job requirements, (tasks).

My duties include delivering equipment and supplies to the job site, and many times placing items with the crane. I also float mini-excavators and back hoes. When not driving I assist the crew with Installation.

10 hour days checking machine before operation, job briefing. learned about signals and communications on the rail way. management wasn't the greatest they would give training to employees and not pay them for what they are qualified at. a lot of the co workers were great helping learn along the way and teaching open to questions you have. staying away from home can be hard for 8 days and being laid off for so long. working with friendly people always is the best for me by far.

I do not have a typical day at work. depending on access to track for maintenance, or if im building new track non stop while getting rock dumped and lifted lifted with mark 4 and broomed with regulator
have operated spiker while using gauge to gauge track .i have run loader to unload 10500 concrete ties weighing 710pounds each.
I have built yard with 19tracks at 2500feet per track with primary and secondary switches.
I have done big switches install on CN main track where we have a 6 hour window to change a 200 feet long switch to a new one

Not many leaders left. Was at one time the company where all wanted to be. Not anymore very unfortunate. U.S. leader stepped in to manage and ruined the place. Not sure what is left to save. All the key people are still leaving and they are leaving right across Canada. Hiring people with zero rail experience is not a good way to grow in a strong market. Unless you have 20 years to rebuild . They should just close the track office at the rate there going with values and respect for employees. To bad they had many good people at one time.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Project coordinator 3 salaries reported	$87,500 per year
Boom operator 2 salaries reported	$34.57 per hour
Foreman 3 salaries reported	$41.58 per hour
Laborer 3 salaries reported	$26.12 per hour
Construction laborer 9 salaries reported	$25.55 per hour

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