BNSF’s Technical Training Center: The best at training the best
By MIKE PAGEL
Staff Writer
For 40 years, the collaboration between BNSF and Johnson County Community College (JCCC) in Overland Park, Kansas, has been a beacon of excellence in railroad employee training and certification. This partnership established a quality standard that set the bar high for the entire railroad industry.
The BNSF Technical Training Center (TTC) occupies 100,000 square feet of training space in the Industrial Training Center building at JCCC, along with an additional 140,000 square feet of outdoor training on the campus. That’s nearly a quarter-million square feet of space dedicated to training.
“From the earliest years, our team created and maintained a conducive environment for learning and skills development,” said Chad Sundem, BNSF’s vice president of safety. “The training here develops our employees professionally and reinforces our No. 1 priority: safety. It is one more layer of safety that we can attribute to our industry-leading safety record.”
TTC's mission is to develop, document and deliver technical training that aligns with company, regulatory and industry standards. This ensures that BNSF employees are equipped with the necessary skills and knowledge to excel in their roles in the railroad industry.
Through the years, tens of thousands of employees in all crafts as well as supervisors have been trained at the TTC. There are 68 instructors and support staff at the TTC. All instructors are career railroaders who have lived the subjects they teach. They’re also liaisons to the field to identify training needs.
“The success of the training program is centered around a strong emphasis in building the foundation of safety and rules application,” Sundem said. “BNSF has made substantial investments in safety and technical training, leveraging a mix of classroom, field and on-the-job learning to cultivate a safe and efficient workforce.”
The partnership between BNSF predecessor Burlington Northern (BN) and JCCC was a great fit from the start. JCCC was aggressively pursuing industry partnerships. The college positioned itself as a workforce development institution, aligning closely with BN’s training needs.
Today, the center serves not only as a national training center for BNSF, but also provides office space for BNSF, general classrooms for JCCC and classrooms and labs for the Electronics Technology program.
The TTC also helps to deliver training to others interested in becoming railroaders or already working in the industry, including shortline railroads, through the National Academy of Railroad Science (NARS). NARS, which is wholly owned by JCCC, shares the same facility as the TTC but has a separate faculty.
Equipped with cutting-edge simulations and lab equipment that replicates equipment types used in railroad operations, the TTC offers a hands-on and immersive learning experience. Such equipment includes locomotive simulators, multiple augmented and virtual reality scenarios, dual control power-operated switches, grade-crossing simulators, radio networks and more.
“This hands-on approach provides a most realistic simulation of what these team members will encounter out on the railroad during their day-to-day duties,” said Aaron Ratledge, BNSF assistant vice president of training and operations practices. “This training allows them to excel in their roles much sooner than they would without this training.”
