National Academy of Railroad Sciences

12345 College Boulevard
Overland Park, KS 66210-1299

The National Academy of Railroad Sciences strives to achieve the highest standards of academic and technical excellence and to provide the most comprehensive training in railroad operations.

Technical Excellence

Training the railroad workforce is more critical today than ever before - preparing new employees, ensuring higher levels of technical skill, retraining and recertifying experienced personnel.

For nearly two decades, the railroad industry has linked Burlington Northern Santa Fe's Technical Training Center with excellence in railroad operations training. Located on the campus of Johnson County Community College, the Training Center built a reputation for delivering the finest instruction to conductors and yard crews, customer service representatives, dispatchers, locomotive engineers, maintenance of way crews, and mechanical, signal systems, and telecommunications/system electrical personnel.

BNSF's Technical Training Center and the College have teamed together to provide the best operations training in the railroad industry. JCCC provides the expertise in instructional design and development that ensures top-quality training; the Training Center provides the expertise in railroad operations that ensures timely, accurate content. JCCC provides libraries and learning centers to serve academic needs; the Training Center supplies laboratories and simulators to deliver technical skills. Together, they have implemented two-year, Associate of Science degrees in railroad operations and railroad electronics.

The partnership between two great institutions of learning is now titled the National Academy of Railroad Sciences. The name represents both sides, the form and the content, the academic and the technical. It also represents a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.

The National Academy will continue to offer the top-quality railroad operations training for which it has become known, serving Class I, regional, and short line railroads, industry suppliers, and customers - any organization whose employee productivity comes first.

Experts in Training

Charged with developing and delivering the highest quality conductor and yard crew, customer service, dispatching, locomotive engineer, maintenance of way, mechanical, signal systems, and telecommunications/system electrical training, the Academy's staff includes experts in railroad operations, instructional design and technology, multimedia services, and administration.

Not only must Academy instructors excel in their fields, they must also stay abreast of changes in the workplace. Instructors come from the railroad operations they teach; many have served as supervisors and managers in a variety of field and staff positions. The Academy's two-year certification process, through which instructors learn instructional design, development, and delivery, ensures the best blend of experience and knowledge.

Innovative Instruction

Maintaining employees' skills cost-effectively requires the innovative use of training resources-including students' time. The National Academy pioneered the industry's interactive video instruction which students complete at their own rates, increasing retention and compressing training time. Laboratories equipped with state-of-the-art simulators offer students hands-on performance of the skills they learn in class.

Safety, Quality and Environmental Awareness

In addition, the Academy recognizes the critical importance of safety, quality and environmental protection to the railroad industry. Applicable principles are embedded into every course. In this way, safety, quality improvement and environmental protection become integral to the task, not just separate requirements added on at the end.

The Finest Facility in the Industry

The National Academy of Railroad Sciences occupies more than 100,000 square feet of JCCC's Industrial/Technical Center in Overland Park, Kansas, just south of Kansas City. The College was founded in 1968 and is recognized as one of the finest community colleges in the nation. Today, more than 30,000 students pursue credit programs each year at JCCC, while another 30,000 pursue non-credit instruction. JCCC students and graduates transfer to 4-year institutions to pursue baccalaureate degrees (some through cooperative programming with JCCC) while others enter or re-enter the work force in disciplines as diverse as nursing, computer technology, drafting and emergency medical technology.

Kansas City, A Railroad Center

Long a center for national railroad operations, Kansas City remains the country's second-largest industry hub, with many railroads, including BNSF, maintaining significant administrative and interchange operations in the area. Its central location, ease of access by road, rail, river, air and vigorous local and regional economy ensure that Kansas City will continue to be a critical transportation center for years to come.

Visitors enjoy the services that local employers and residents take for granted-excellent schools, diverse cultural events, top professional sports teams, varied recreational activities, and clean, livable, and affordable surroundings.

The National Academy of Railroad Sciences is pleased to arrange round-trip transportation and accommodations for out-of-town railroad students and guests.

Expertise and Experience for All Railroad Operations

Conductor/Yard Crew

Conductors are responsible for supervising the over-the-road operation of freight trains. They make decisions about switching, spotting cars and making up the train. They are responsible for monitoring and reporting work performed en route. With yard crews, conductors are also responsible for inspecting cars in conformance with FRA regulations, protecting railroad revenue, and responding to hazardous materials emergencies. Switchmen identify and line switches, identify and tie hand brakes, and line switches at industrial sites. Students practice all the tasks that are critical to the safe and efficient movement of trains.

Customer Service

Customer Support Specialists are the critical link between the railroad industry and its customers. Customer service skills, including teamwork and interpersonal communications, uniform and accurate data reporting practices, and revenue protection techniques, ensure the best relationships between customer and supplier. Hands-on use of data reporting systems is the core of Customer Support Training. Students use training systems and databases that emulate the performance of production systems and practice with these systems to master data reporting skills.

Dispatcher

Highly skilled dispatching ensures not only the safe movement of trains and on-track vehicles but also their efficient movement-providing top value for shippers. Dispatcher training provides entry-level and experienced dispatchers with the skills they need to move traffic safely and effectively. Students practice planning, communicating, and monitoring traffic movements on computer system and communications simulators. Interactive video self-instruction supplements classroom training on the General Code of Operating Rules.

Locomotive Engineer

Railroads run thousands of trains each day over widely varying conditions. Locomotive engineers and their supervisors are responsible for operating trains safely and efficiently and for keeping up with changes in policies, practices and equipment. Stationary and full-motion locomotive simulators equipped with computer-generated images, air brake demonstration racks, and signal simulators provide hands-on practice. Computer-based training in the General Code of Operating Rules, air brake and train handling, and other subjects augments classroom and laboratory training.

Maintenance of Way

Maintenance of Way employees maintain the infrastructure of a railroad, constructing, inspecting and repairing track, bridges buildings, and other railroad properties and facilities, operating the equipment used in these tasks, and, in some cases, maintaining that equipment. Welding is one of the skills fundamental to effective maintenance of way activities, and so the Academy offers extensive, laboratory-based welding training. A full-sized locomotive crane simulator, hydraulic test benches, equipment cutaways, and other simulators and equipment give students experience they can apply immediately on the job. The Academy also operates a state-of-the-art mobile training classroom to take maintenance of way training into the field.

Mechanical

The railroad industry employs thousands of mechanical employees, machinists, electricians, sheet-metal workers, boilermakers, carmen, and supervisors responsible for inspecting, maintaining, and repairing locomotives and freight cars. Mechanical training offers a range of courses, including apprentice programs, teaching these principles and techniques. Students practice new skills using General Electric and Electro-Motive Division locomotive electrical simulators. They disassemble and reassemble GE and EMD diesel engines and practice maintenance skills on four locomotive and six freight car air brake simulators. The result is training that transfers immediately, improving employees' on-the-job performance, allowing railroads and car owners to make better use of their most valuable assets.

Signal Systems

Signal and train control systems employ the latest technologies to provide for the safe and efficient movement of rail traffic. Signal Systems employees install, inspect, test, and maintain these systems, applying a broad base of education and training. Because signal and control systems affect the safety and productivity of other railroad employees, they too must have a general understanding of how these systems operate. To meet diverse and changing training needs, Signal training laboratories are equipped with train control system simulators, wayside equipment system simulators, power-operated switch layouts, and grade crossing simulators. Computer-based training augments classroom and laboratory instruction.

Telecommunications/System Electrical

Enabling communication among railroad facilities are systems and equipment including integrated digital/analog transmission networks, two-way radios, and long-distance telephone networks. Several hundred employees install, maintain and repair these systems, so critical to uninterrupted communication and ongoing operation. Telecommunications training relies heavily on hands-on, laboratory-based practice to ensure that students take the skills they need to their jobs. Electrical systems installed, inspected, maintained, and repaired by hundreds of technically skilled employees and supervisors are also critical to the safe movement of rail traffic, the uninterrupted operation of office systems, and the efficiency of communication between railroads and their customers. Their training needs are addressed through a broad range of classroom and laboratory instruction employing state-of-the-art simulation for hands-on learning and practice.