Pros
Pay is ok and work is pretty easy. Benefits are ok but you gotta pay for them all.
Kontras
On call 24/7, and they will call 24/7!!! Mostly for jobs that your not even qualified to be on. You will have no life, one day off a week. A week day usually. Even if you get to the point you get good seniority as a conductor they will force you to be an engineer and lose it all starting from the bottom again. If you take a day off, they will threaten you with termination. Only way to take time off is FMLA or calling in sick. Company ignores union agreements, denies pay and claims due to you. You pay Union dues to a union that doesn't do anything for you. They will leave you in a hotel for 24 hours or more. You could be gone from home for days just to get called back as soon as you wake up and do it all over again. They force safety down your throat but on a daily basis managers tell you to violate the rules and FRA regulations. Any time anything goes wrong the company hangs you. Even when THEY tell you to do something against the rules they still find a way to blame it all on you.