A Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) grant of $8 million is enabling the USA’s Amtrak to advance its new apprenticeship programme. Launched in March this year, it will be rolled out and implemented nationally and offer a three-year career track ‘for personal and professional advancement’. With training hubs in Washington, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Wilmington (Delaware), and Beech Grove (Indiana), the grant will enable the programme to train over 600 employees in the next three to five years.

Stephen Gardner, Amtrak’s president and CEO, said: “Amtrak envisions an innovative apprenticeship programme that merges the best aspects of training and the latest in railroad technology, with one key objective in mind — creating a highly skilled, qualified, and engaged workforce. Helping us meet our staffing goals well into the future, we would like to thank the FRA for allowing Amtrak to invest in and grow its workforce, and our union partners for making this all happen.”

FRA administrator Amit Bose added: “This FY21 CRISI grant will mean more good-paying jobs for Americans. The new employment opportunities and re-training of existing employees will increase Amtrak staffing and result in a better service for passengers. Workforce development programmes like this one are essential to maximise the unprecedented rail investments in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.”

Creating a talent pipeline for existing and new employees, the programme provides a career track for personal and professional advancement at Amtrak. The grant follows the launch, earlier this year, of Amtrak’s ‘Apprenticeship Pilot Programme’, which aimed to create a talent pipeline for existing and new employees.

The grant will allow the team to expand the program more rapidly across additional crafts and locations; and regardless of their specialisations, all apprentices must take core courses including safety, environmental awareness, personal protective equipment — and others — before meeting their mentors and moving into combined classroom and hands-on instruction, then branching off into craft-specific training. After three years of training, students take a final exam and become fully qualified craftspeople in their field.