Learning by Doing
With the largest and most extensively equipped railroad job education facilities, including the most locomotive simulators in North America, NARS can provide exceptional hands-on training to both potential and current railroad employees in virtually every industry craft. Within JCCC, our facilities occupy 130,000 square feet of space for teaching basic to advanced skills. Each craft has its own extensive facilities, laboratories, equipment, and resources. Whenever possible, our students are exposed to conditions and simulated situations that duplicate on-the-job requirements. Firm believers in learning by doing, NARS emphasizes performance-oriented training:
- Conductors learn and practice skills in an outdoor train yard, complete with various types of operating locomotives and freight cars.
- Mechanical employees train in workshops, including a freight car lab, locomotive lab, and locomotive electrical. Each lab is fully equipped to provide hands-on experience with mechanical and electrical components of cars and engines.
- Maintenance and engineering crews work on an open-air track lab outfitted with rails and ties. This area also has a fully operative locomotive crane.
- Signal operators train on the actual signals, electronic switches, and computer apparatus they will install and service in the field.
- Telecommunications specialists learn and practice on the precise equipment they will encounter on the job.