Keeping operations running smoothly in a fast-paced environment
Heidi Kneip
Train Dispatcher
Union Pacific
Omaha, NE
7 years in the industry
Seven years ago, Heidi Kneip was working with at-risk kids when her dad, a train dispatcher with over 30 years in the industry, suggested she apply for a job as a dispatcher at Union Pacific (UP). Her mother, grandfather and two uncles worked there too. For Heidi, now a third generation UP employee, freight rail was literally a family affair, and working there was like coming home. After landing the job she went through seven months of training, starting with a personality test. “They're looking for outgoing, detail oriented, confident people,” Heidi says. “It's a fast-paced environment, and most dispatchers thrive on it.”
UP's Harriman Dispatching Center in Omaha, NE, has roughly 500 dispatchers, similar to air traffic controllers, using computers and radio communications to monitor and control train routes to keep things running smoothly. “At any given time you can have from 10 to 50 trains you're keeping track of,” Heidi says, and when it's busy, she hardly leaves her seat. “The pay and benefits are great,” Heidi says. “The company really stands behind their dispatchers because it takes awhile to train us, and they don't want to lose the knowledge we already have.”
When she's not working, Heidi likes to run, bike and play tennis, but going to school to earn her MBA takes up most of her free time these days. UP helps pay tuition and Heidi's pretty certain that in twenty years, a master's degree will be mandatory the way a college degree is now. Meanwhile she's training to be a corridor manager, in charge of two to three dispatchers, and excited about UP's new ad campaign extolling the positives of freight rail. “There are a lot of small companies out there that could truly benefit from using freight rail,” she says. “They just don't realize they can ship so easily with the railroads.”