TCRP Project E7: Building a Joint System of Qualifications for Transit Rail Car Technicians

The internal training capacity of the transit industry has had trouble keeping up with the pace of innovation in new rail vehicle technologies.  With the growth of transit rail systems, it has likewise become increasingly difficult to hire new external applicants with the needed specialized skills.  Upgrading the skills of the workforce that maintains this new technology and developing a system that does this on an ongoing basis is of the utmost importance to the industry.

National standards for qualifying transit technicians through jointly developed systems for training and certification offer the best approach for meeting the skill needs of the transit industry for rail car mechanics and other maintenance occupations.  Training standards were jointly developed by the industry through Center-funded projects, with the standards adopted by APTA in 2010.  The ongoing national rail car training partnership has mobilized skilled Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) including mechanics, trainers and supervisors to develop standardized curricula and systems for sharing courseware materials that correspond with the curricula.  Key national players in this effort include APTA, ATU, TWU and IBEW, supporting the work of some 15 agencies and their local unions such as Miami-Dade Transit, Metropolitan Atlanta Regional Transportation Authority, Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Minneapolis Metro, NYCMTA, San Diego Trolley, Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, TriMet and Utah Transit.

TCRP project E-7 has worked to build a shared industry framework for training, apprenticeship and certification by drawing lessons from joint training and qualification systems in other US industries and Internationally and developing a proposed national qualification system for rail car technicians. 

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