Rail Safety Engineering Trainee

Job Responsibilities Under direct supervision, this position is responsible for assisting in the administration of the federal Railway-Highway Crossings Program (Section 130), Federal-aid Highway Program (FAHP), and Grade Crossing Protection Fund (GCPF). Additionally, under direct supervision, the incumbent is responsible for assisting in the development of railway-highway crossing projects under the Section 130 and FAHP. This position reports to the Highway Railway Safety Engineer. There are no subordinates reporting to this position. This position operates within an environment where s/he assists the Highway Railway Safety Engineer in the development and administration of programs for the improvement of safety at railway-highway crossings in the state encompassing Section 130, FAHP, GCPF, and locally funded projects. Under direct supervision, the incumbent assists with administering simple railroad projects in accordance with state and federal regulations and guidelines, coordinating projects with railroad companies throughout the state, and providing basic engineering expertise necessary for the development of agreements and plans for railroad-highway projects. S/He assists the Highway-Railway Safety Engineer in prioritizing local project applications. This position utilizes a working knowledge of both highway and railway design, specifically highway and railway geometrics, traffic and rail signal design, and drainage principles. The greatest challenge of this position lies in maximizing the safety of local system rail crossings for the state within limited funding constraints. A typical problem for this position is to ensure that highway and related railroad work are scheduled to accommodate each other. Under direct supervision, this position assists in the development and administration of programs aimed at providing effective railway-highway crossing safety including Section 130, FAHP, and GCPF. S/He assists in providing basic engineering expertise necessary for the development of agreements and plans as well as providing district office and local agency staff with the direction necessary to upgrade local agency railway-highway crossings. The incumbent assists in conducting on-site reviews of railway-highway crossings to prioritize projects for the Federal Railway-Highway Crossing Safety Program and responds to traffic signal and railroad signal interconnect inquiries on local highway systems. S/He assists project development engineers to ensure coordination between railroads and contractors for proposed railroad work in federal aid roadway and bike trail projects. Additionally, the incumbent assists with keeping the department’s GCPF publication up to date regarding its availability and use. This position is responsible for additional rail related duties as assigned by the Highway Railway Safety Engineer. (Job Responsibilities continued) The incumbent performs under immediate supervision and is given little latitude to act independently when performing the responsibilities of this position. S/He refers all problems to the Highway Railway Safety Engineer for resolution. This position is guided by state and federal policies and by the rules and regulations of the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) and the department. Internal contacts include the Office of Chief Counsel (OCC), Office of Highway Project Implementation (OHPI), Office of Planning and Programming (OPP), and Office of Intermodal Project Implementation (OIPI). Additional contacts may include staff from district offices and the Bureau of Design and Environment, Bureau of Operations, Bureau of Materials, and Bureau of Research. External contacts include representatives from local agencies, railroad companies, the ICC, Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), and other state departments of transportation. Generally, these contacts deal with interpretation of law, engineering policies and procedures, ICC orders, and the status of ongoing rail projects. This position requires occasional in-state and out-of-state travel which may include overnight stays in order to attend ICC hearings, meetings, seminars, and railroad crossings throughout the state for on-site reviews. The effectiveness of this position is measured by the efficiency and relative success of assisting in the administration of rail crossing programs for which the Highway Safety Programs Unit is responsible.