(The following story by Walt Frank appeared on the Altoona Mirror website on January 26.)
ALTOONA, Pa. — Norfolk Southern Corp., which Wednesday announced record net income for the fourth quarter and for 2006, plans to expand its work force at the Juniata Locomotive Shop in 2007.
The company plans to hire about 25 people — a combination of electricians, boilermakers, laborers and machinists — “as quickly as we can,” company spokesman Rudy Husband said.
There are two primary reasons for the hirings.
“The ongoing attrition through retirements and Norfolk Southern’s overall program to overhaul the locomotive fleet for 2007 requires additional people,” Husband said. “We think we will do more work at the shop in 2007 than in 2006, so we need more people.”
Once the hirings are completed, the work force at Juniata will be about 1,000.
Employment at the shop has remained consistent for the last couple of years, Husband said.
Norfolk Southern has changed the way it hires.
Candidates must go to the Norfolk Southern Web site — www.nscorp.com — and complete an application.
“They can get specific about the position they are seeking and where they want to work. After they complete the application, they may get called in for an interview, but there is no guarantee they will get an interview,” Husband said.
“We wanted to get away from the hiring circuses like we used to have in Altoona. This is a much more effective way to identify employees,” he said.
Insourcing work will continue to play an important role at Juniata in 2007, Husband said.
“Insourcing will continue to be a nice money-maker for us,” he said. “We are getting work on transit engines from Virginia Railway Express and one engine from the San Diego Transit Authority. We are getting component work for other rail equipment suppliers.”
Overall, 2007 promises to be a very good year for the company, he said.
“For the people here, if more freight is moved, more locomotives are used, and we need more people to work on them. We also plan to buy 142 new engines this year; that will create more work here,” Husband said.
“Altoona is unique, the work here is a trickle-down effect of how we are performing as a company.”