Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO evaluated Amtrak's training programs for new locomotive engineers, assistant conductors, signal maintainers, and mechanics (carmen) and foremen in the Amtrak Mechanical Department. GAO found that: (1) the engineer training program is centrally designed and managed, mandatory for all new engineers, and designed to be consistently delivered to all trainees; (2) the assistant conductor training is centrally developed and mandatory for all new assistant conductors; (3) Amtrak promotes trainees to positions as signal maintainers without ensuring that they complete important classroom training; (4) Amtrak's training programs for most of its carmen and mechanical foremen are not centrally designed and managed or consistently applied; (5) Amtrak does not routinely train its foremen in the multiple crafts they supervise; and (6) foremen are expected to decide whether carman trainees have the skills to become fully qualified carmen when they may not have the technical skills to make this determination. | Amtrak Training by U U S Government Accountability Office (G, Paperback | Indigo Chapters