BALTIMORE - CSX Transportation is in a rare hiring mode.
With a significant proportion of its work force approaching retirement age, the company said Wednesday it will hire 60 new conductors for its Baltimore division, which encompasses Maryland and parts of Virginia and Pennsylvania.
"We had a long period where railroads weren't hiring so much - now we need to hire," CSX spokeswoman Meg Sacks told The (Baltimore) Daily Record. "We are hiring to keep up with attrition rates and to keep up with the increased demand for freight traffic. We have a lot of folks around the retirement age, really starting last year and into the next few years."
A conductor is considered an entry-level job where workers receive hands-on training and learn the rules and regulations of railroad freight transportation. Conductors ride in the locomotive and handle a host of tasks including operating switches, minor repair work and train inspections. From the conductor position, workers can advance to become locomotive engineers, trainmasters or move into management. The starting salary is $30,000, Sacks said.
CSX finds itself in a position similar to that of other large rail operators whose workers are nearing retirement just as business is growing.
The Association of American Railroads estimates the major operators will need to replace in the neighborhood of 80,000 positions in the short-term future, spokeswoman Kelly Donley said.
At the same time, railroads are enjoying a "renaissance," fueled by high oil prices and the industry's positioning as a more environmentally friendly transportation option. Also growing is what is known as intermodal transportation - where more than one mode of transportation is used to deliver freight. An example would include freight brought in on a ship, loaded to a truck and then taken to a rail yard.
The industry plans to spend around $10 billion to increase capacity, also leading to an increased demand for labor, Donley said.
"The industry was consolidating and employment wasn't really growing," Donley said. "But, there is a huge demand for workers now. It's a very big growth industry, and we don't see an end to it."
CSX Transportation, the freight arm of Jacksonville, Fla.-based CSX Corp., operates and maintains 560 miles of track in Maryland. The company handles around 200,000 carloads of freight a year and employs 1,500 Marylanders.
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