Northern starting new railroad program

The Wells Fargo Foundation helped kick start a certificate program in railroad mechanics Tuesday at Montana State University-Northern with the presentation of a facsimile of a $10,000 check in a ceremony at Northern's Farm Mechanics Building.

Northern Chancellor Greg Kegel said the program, which is slated to begin next summer, will train students to be railroad electricians and mechanics and is based on a standardized curriculum from the National Academy of Railroad Sciences, or NARS.

"And the value of the certificate is that it makes them employable," Kegel said. "So, if you go through that program and get the certificate, the railroads would look at that as a credential for employment."

Both the main railroads and short lines recruit students with background in the NARS curriculum, which is used across the nation to produce railroad electricians and mechanics, he added.

Kegel said he hopes to make the certificate into a Board of Regents-approved certificate and eventually tie it into a two-and then four-year degree.

"So I don't want to limit it to you get it and you're gone," Kegel said.

NARS had reached out to Northern two years ago about offering such a program, he said.

When Northerm was soliciting support for construction of its proposed Diesel Technology Center, Montana Link and BNSF Railway also suggested the university offer more in their curriculum about big bore engines, electronics and electricity involved in locomotive itself, Kegel said.

"And that is where we started, 'Well, let's talk a little bit more about that,' and, before we knew it, we were off and running," he said.

Kegel said that Lawrence Strizich, Northern's dean of Technical Sciences, is now in Oklahoma at a short line railroad looking into the curriculum and recruitment.

"Because it is going to allow us to recruit nationwide instead of regionwide and the railroads will actually be sending students to us," Kegel said.

Northern will team up with BNSF and other high-profile companies such as Caterpillar and General Electric for further financial support and equipment as well as internship and employment opportunities for students.

Kegel said General Electric has donated a million dollars for parts for a trainer that contains all the components of a working locomotive.

It has taken Northern a while to get the program launched because they needed to find an on-campus facility for two locomotive engines that will be delivered to the campus and the trainer used for students to work on, he said.  

The equipment and classes will be in the new Diesel Technology Center which is now under construction and is projected to be completed next fall.

"It isn't something that you just do overnight. It takes a long time really to ramp up. We were in the process of rebuilding a building, we didn't have room in the original building to expand into this curriculum, so this new facility is giving us that ability," he said.

Kegel said the railroad mechanics program will allow the university to bringin new students from a wider area.

"What I think I am going to see is a lot of students that we have not recruited -  that we don't even know about because they live in another state far away - they are going to hear that Northern has got this new curriculum, and we are really interested in it," he said.