| “ | The needs of the train are more important than our own happiness. We're engineers... We keep the world alive. | ” |
| — Melanie to Miles before he enters the Engine in The Universe Is Indifferent. | ||
The Engineers are a guild aboard Snowpiercer and Big Alice, with crucial responsibilities to the train for operating and driving the Eternal Engine as the main assignment.
Assignments
Engineers need to be skilled in mathematics and mechanical engineering, and they also need to be good with computers and electronics. They need to have extreme skill in driving the train and be able to spend hours a day whilst driving.
As Engineers have the most stressful jobs on the train, their jobs entail:
- Piloting the train.
- Monitoring, designing, and building life support systems.
- Monitoring rail infrastructure, weather and train conditions.
- Monitoring, repairing and operating The Eternal Engine or Big Alice.
- Distributing electricity and keeping the train at speed so that electricity can be provided to all cars.
- Designing and maintaining the train, sometimes even personally fixing the train, especially integral parts like the wheel assemblies or life support systems.
Up until the revolution the Engineers would also act as the leadership of the train.
Throughout the Series
This department is responsible for maintaining Snowpiercer's Eternal Engine and keeping life support systems working. Members of Engineering most likely enjoy unlimited and privileged access to the train, as the Engine Car access is bio-secure.
Chief Engineer and Head of Engineering Melanie Cavill is responsible for designing Snowpiercer. It is as much Wilford's project as it is hers.
Engineers took part in the design process. They maintain the life support and energy systems aboard the train. On a daily basis, they monitor the weather conditions, seismic activity and state of the tracks the train circulates on. They are seen to be also responsible for conducting the train. Their living quarters are located within the Engine Car (C0001). Bennett Knox and Javier De La Torre seem to be the only two Senior Engineers to work full-time in the Engine Car. While the former seems to be closer to a Mechanical Engineer, the latter seems to be more of a Computer Engineer, responsible for hacking weather satellites and trying to prevent Big Alice from uplinking and taking control of the Engine. The Engineers' uniform is a light grey jumpsuit.
After the death of Electrical Engineer Peter DiMarco during the Torreta Canyon Crisis, a new Engineering apprenticeship was opened and offered to Miles, a young Tailie. He was later promoted to the Engine Car and was let in on the secret of Mr. Wilford as a result.
Department Members
Snowpiercer Engineers
- Melanie Cavill - Head Engineer - ALIVE - Melanie had multiple jobs such as the head of hospitality up until the revolution. Melanie has final say in all engineering matters and can overrule a decision made by other engineers, also before the revolution she had supreme power over the train acting as a head of state type figure under the alias of Mr. Wilford. She rarely drives the train as she acts more as a maintenance worker, she performs hands on repairs inside and out of the train, has breach skills and a perfect understanding of every system on the train. But when she does drive the train she is very skilled at it, in Mr. Wilford's words she is the best driver he's ever seen. She has an ability she learned over time of how to "feel the train" where she can place her hand on a surface in the train and feel any anomalies in the train's mechanisms and track conditions. She designed the majority of the train and says it is as much her project as it is Mr. Wilford's. She was presumed to have perished in the Rocky Mountains near the Breslauer Weather Station and apparently gave up her life to save the data she collected. She is later found alive on a Track scaler and resumes her duties as Head Engineer of Snowpiercer.
- Bennett Knox - Senior Engineer - ALIVE - Bennet Knox is one of the original designers and engineers of the train, he acts as the Mechanical Engineer on the team. He is the engineer who primarily drives the train and is also a stickler about the passing of command rule, he will always say "you have the train" or "I have the train" when switching engineers. But besides from that he also has duties much like Melanie, he makes hands on repairs on any train systems that need in-depth knowledge to repair, he also designed the train and is the second in command of Snowpeircer. He knows every line of track on the route and every piece of infrastructure in the train. He was on the Pirate train making him one of the only two qualified engineers. When Snowpiercer and Big Alice separate, he remains on Snowpiercer.
- Javier De La Torre - Senior Engineer - ALIVE - Javier De La Torre acts as the Computer Engineer and has advanced know-how of how technology works, he can hack into government satellites, remotely switch track points, and program weather balloons. He is very skilled in weather predictions and calculating terrain and track conditions. He can properly predict whether the train will cause a avalanche and even calculate when a train car will reach a certain point in the track. He was later transferred to Big Alice as the Fifth Engineer and then later transferred back. When the trains separate again, he goes with Big Alice.
- Alexandra Cavill - Senior Engineer - ALIVE - Once the second in command to Wilford, Alex has the same skill as her mother for driving the train, she knows the inner workings of the train and is skilled in precision driving. She is so precise in her driving of the train, to the point where she feels she is able to regulate speed and distance well enough, that that she was able to pull in behind Snowpiercer only inches from the Docking Car. She was able to accurately regulate speed to connect to Snowpiercer while driving the train in reverse without derailing. She defected from Wilford and became one of the two engineers on the pirate train and was one of two people on the pirate train qualified to drive the train. Wilford himself told Melanie that Alex's skills as an Engineer could eclipse both Wilford himself and Melanie. She later joins Big Alice when the trains separate.
- Peter DiMarco - Engineer - DECEASED - Not much is known about Peter, he was never seen driving the train and his only appearance was in Trouble Comes Sideways where he was killed by a bogie motor he was repairing. Melanie states in The Universe Is Indifferent that Peter was an Electrical Engineer.
- Miles - Engineer Apprentice - ALIVE - Miles is a unticketed passenger who worked his way up from the Tail to the Engine thanks to his superb intellect. Miles was promoted to Engineer Apprentice in The Universe Is Indifferent, following the death of Peter DiMarco. Miles has since driven the train several times, he aided the Tailies in the rebellion, and he, along with Bennett Knox performed the disconnection of 7 cars, killing 147 people. In the 4th episode of season 2 he stated that he was working as a Life Support Engineer, designing machines and mechanisms to make life outside the train more comfortable. After the trains separate, Miles remains on Snowpiercer and works in the Engine with Melanie and Bennett once again.
Big Alice Engineers
- Joseph Wilford - Head Engineer - Conductor - ALIVE - Mr. Wilford rarely drives the train or acts as an engineer should, he sits around all day and acts more like a King than a Driver. The idea for the train was his and he designed parts of the train, he affectionately calls Snowpeircer "my train". He taught Alexandrea how to drive and owned the train well before it was retrofitted to withstand extreme cold. After the pirate train was created, he was left behind on the main train, making him the only person qualified to drive the train aside from Javi. He is later exiled on the Track scaler.
- Alexandra Cavill - Engineer - ALIVE - Once Wilford's protegee who often drove the train for him before she defects to Andre Layton's side and becomes one of his Engineers on the pirate train. When Snowpiercer and Big Alice separate, she returns to Big Alice as one Layton's Engineers.
- Javier De La Torre - Fifth Engineer - ALIVE - One of Snowpiercer's Senior Engineers, who was transferred to Big Alice after Wilford took control of both trains and was given the title of Fifth Engineer. It was presumed that he died by a dog attack provoked by Wilford, after helping to take both trains back for Melanie. However, he was later revealed to have survived and was enslaved by Wilford as the Engineer on Big Alice. Aside from Wilford himself, Javi appears to be the only qualified Engineer left onboard following the departure of the pirate train. Javi was forced to help Wilford build an EMP weapon and he drove the train during the cat and mouse game with the pirate train. Still loyal to his friends, Javi secretly let Andre Layton onboard Big Alice so that he could take down Wilford. He then transferred back to the Eternal Engine. When Snowpiercer and Big Alice separate, he returns to Big Alice as one Layton's Engineers.
- Bennett Knox - Temporary Engineer - ALIVE - During the conflict between Melanie and Layton over New Eden, Bennett temporarily acts as an Engineer on Big Alice before transferring back to Snowpiercer when matters are settled.
Trivia
- The Engineers of Snowpiercer sleep in the Eternal Engine so that they have immediate access to the train's controls if need be, whilst the Engineers of Big Alice sleep multiple cars away from the Engine.
- There must be one Engineer driving Snowpiercer's Eternal Engine at all times with another Engineer on call. Big Alice is more lax about these rules with the locomotive going without a driver for hours on end.
- When switching control of the train, Engineers of Snowpiercer must say this: the old acting driver says "you have the train" while the new acting driver says "I have the train". This protocol is used in real life trains and other vehicles, primarily used in the military. We have seen this protocol be skipped over before though. And we have never seen it happen on Big Alice.
