National Signal Reviews

Literally no work-life balance. On-call 24/7/365 with no relief or time off and must immediately respond to any trouble calls without delay, sometimes over 150 miles away, any time or day, without warning, in any type of weather. Even if you do not get called out, your body and mind are forced to stay in a constant state of preparedness and anxiety simply due to the chance of being called out at any moment and it will wear you down. There is no way to disconnect or recover from work. If you are a young single guy that just wants to hustle for the money this will be a good position for you, but if you have a family or friends, or enjoy even the simple things like going out to movies, kayaking, going to concerts, etc... this career will wreak havoc on your personal life and burn you out very quickly. There is a reason most people don't last more than a couple years in this job. The physical and mental health effects are real. Other than that, the vacation time is well under what other employers offer and it is often very hard to get time off outside of your limited paid vacation. You will miss weddings, funerals, your kids events, etc... because they do not have coverage for you to take time off. The railroads often schedule their track work during the hottest months of the year, so you will work your tail off, killing yourself in the extreme heat as you follow behind them and repair all the track circuits they destroy. Basically, most of the negatives come down to the horrible on-call policies and the complete lack of time off so you can disconnect and decompress, except for very small amounts of paid vacation (compared to any other employer) that can take years to get.