r/hazmat • u/Sharp-Top582 • Jun 16 '25

General Discussion Railroad hazmat union pacific, CPKC, etc..

I am a full time fireman, and was interested in working for one of the railroad hazmat responce teams. I was curious if anyone on here knows the day to day work life? And how hard is it to get hired on?

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u/Chanticleer_Hegemony Jun 16 '25

Working directly for the railroad as a hazmat manager is generally a mid-late career move for people with substantial specialized experience. That is, experience on high-hazard teams, railcar specialists, and those with significant experience related to derailments and product transfers.

What is far more feasible is working for a contractor that does railroad response. The work life balance for contractors is typically horribly skewed towards work, however it may be possible to line up a gig working as a “standby” responder, but I would expect to mostly get calls related to oil and diesel fuel spills that really boil down to digging holes in the ground with progressively more expensive equipment.

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u/Xanadu2902 Jun 16 '25 edited Jun 16 '25

This is a good comment. And accurate. I work as a State OSC and regularly work with both BNSF and UP HazMat Managers and Contractors on derailments and hazmat incidents. Including many diesel spills that dictate digging holes…lol.

As a side note, I was at SERTC last year for some training and spoke to two trainers who were prior HazMat managers (one for UP and the other for CSX). At the time, I was interested in an opening at BNSF. They both cautioned me against it due to the work life balance and the fact that I have a young family. Still, they both seemed to enjoy the time they spent working in those roles.