Watco Companies, owner of the Birmingham Terminal Railway and Port of Birmingham, has opened a training center near Fairfield that will bring hundreds of its employees from around the country to Birmingham each year.

The Kansas-based company held a ribbon cutting Monday for its state-of-the-art STAT (Safety Through Awareness and Training) Center.

The STAT Center was created as the company ramped up efforts to provide standardized safety training. The new facility features classroom space, breakout session space, a functional model railroad to assist in nontraditional instruction of railroad operations, a simulator room with two FRA Type II Simulators, two portable desktop-type simulators, and an indoor components training area with a cutaway railcar, air brake simulator rack and other hands-on training tools.

“It’s taking our training to the next level, … equipping people better in the field to operate new equipment and to work more safely and efficiently,” said Travis Herod, Watco senior vice president of safety and training.

Watco owns the Port of Birmingham, pictured, along with Birmingham Terminal Railway. (Watco)

Team members are flown into Birmingham and then shuttled between the training center and their lodging for the duration of their stay. Ground school, which is the initial engineer class, runs for three weeks and the conductor courses go for two weeks.

Last year Watco trained nearly 200 initial ground school students along with 75 initial engineer students, and with recent growth, Herod anticipates a 10 percent increase over these numbers in 2017. In addition, when fully implemented, locomotive engineer recertification would cycle an additional 120 to 140 employees through the center in a given year.

The company also plans to eventually market the courses to other short-line railroads, further increasing the number of visitors to the Birmingham area.

A boost for the area

Brian Hilson, president and CEO of the Birmingham Business Alliance, the region’s lead economic development agency, said this training center will play a key role in the growth of Birmingham and Watco.

“Watco has established an important tool for their company here in Jefferson County,” he said. “Birmingham was built on railroads and has for many years been an essential transportation and distribution hub for many national companies. We want to thank Watco for recognizing the role Birmingham can play in the company’s growth, and for its commitment to our community.”

Jefferson County Commissioner David Carrington said, “We are honored that Watco has chosen Birmingham and Jefferson County to locate its new training center. Thousands of its employees, and others, will visit this training center in our region and see firsthand why the Birmingham Metro Area is the economic engine of Alabama and how our community and workforce is helping national companies like Watco grow their business.”

“Watco is an important partner with the city of Birmingham and we are proud of the commitment they have made in our community,” said Birmingham Mayor William Bell. “They operate two major assets here that help some of our largest businesses thrive and grow. The ripple effect from this training center and Watco’s presence here will be felt among our citizens for a long time to come.”

Watco Transportation Services, LLC, is one of the largest short line railroad holding companies in the U.S., with 37 short line railroads operating on more than 5,100 miles of track, as well as 33 industrial contract switching locations.