The signaling side of the company inflated while there was a drive to install PTC, and now they are constantly under threat of layoffs because the market is turning against them. Morale is really low.
Pay and benefits aren't commensurate with the rest of the industry. I left this company and took over a 40% pay increase for a position with far less responsibilities and less stress. I think pay is probably better for people they snatch coming out of the railroad, but if you're coming out of college, you'll only get a couple years out of this place.
This one is more subjective, but… Xorail is owned by Wabtec and as a group, Wabtec employees, especially the non-technical ones, are genuinely the most nasty people I've encountered in my career. In my tenure there, I worked with over a dozen different customers ranging from Class 1 railroads, shortlines, and transit -- but the most aggressive, rude, and outright hostile people I ever worked with were... fellow Wabtec employees. Whenever you work with someone from another Wabtec office, you are treated as an enemy. You learn to write emails like a lawyer and walk on eggshells just to get work done. Management, far from being above this, are the progenitors of all this toxicity.
Customer service is pretty embarrassing. I sat through several meetings that basically consisted of figuring out legal and creative new ways to screw customers. I also worked alongside several client railroads, so I saw Wabtec’s behavior from both sides, and… let’s just say, I was ashamed to work here by the time I left. Customers frankly hate Wabtec but they endure the treatment they get from them because Wabtec has a monopoly on a few key technologies. Not something to be proud of.
