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Locomotive Engineers vs Railroad Brake, Signal, and Switch Operators and Locomotive Firers

Side-by-side · O*NET · BLS · AI-exposure research · Anthropic Economic Index

A factual, source-backed comparison of Locomotive Engineers and Railroad Brake, Signal, and Switch Operators and Locomotive Firers on the dimensions both occupations carry. Every figure is a position within an independent published dataset — not a verdict on which job is better, safer, or more “future-proof.”

Locomotive Engineers Railroad Brake, Signal, and Switch Operators and Locomotive Firers
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$77,400
$65,480
Employment · BLS OEWS
31,990
12,460
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
34th pct
6th pct

At a glance

Dimension Locomotive Engineers Railroad Brake, Signal, and Switch Operators and Locomotive Firers
Median pay $77,400 $65,480
Employment 31,990 12,460
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection About average (+0.7%) About average (+1.0%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 2,200 1,000
Typical education · O*NET Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not. Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.
AI exposure · published exposure studies Moderate · 34th pct Low · 6th pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 33rd pct · 20% of tasks —
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index — —
Mostly remote-capable · Dingel–Neiman No —

Pay and employment are BLS OEWS estimates; outlook and openings are BLS 2024–2034 projections; AI exposure and observed-use figures come from separate research and reflect exposure and usage, not predictions that either job will disappear. Compare like with like.

Skills

Shared: Transportation, Far Vision, Operation and Control, Operations Monitoring, Selective Attention, Control Precision, Response Orientation, Problem Sensitivity, Reaction Time, Near Vision, Active Listening, Oral Comprehension, Oral Expression, Perceptual Speed, Multilimb Coordination, Critical Thinking, Monitoring, Public Safety and Security, Information Ordering, Flexibility of Closure, Rate Control, Auditory Attention, Inductive Reasoning, Reading Comprehension, Judgment and Decision Making, Manual Dexterity, Speech Recognition, English Language, Written Comprehension, Deductive Reasoning, Time Sharing, Speech Clarity, Time Management.

Specific to Locomotive Engineers

  • Depth Perception
  • Speaking
  • Hearing Sensitivity
  • Education and Training
  • Active Learning
  • Complex Problem Solving
  • Spatial Orientation

Specific to Railroad Brake, Signal, and Switch Operators and Locomotive Firers

  • Arm-Hand Steadiness
  • Mechanical
  • Visual Color Discrimination
  • Social Perceptiveness
  • Coordination
  • Visualization
  • Finger Dexterity

Knowledge, skills & abilities O*NET rates as important for each occupation. “Shared” are common to both; the columns list what is distinctive to each (top by the order O*NET surfaces).

Tools & technology

Shared: Spreadsheet software , Expert system software , Route navigation software , Time accounting software .

Specific to Locomotive Engineers

Specific to Railroad Brake, Signal, and Switch Operators and Locomotive Firers

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Locomotive Engineers or Railroad Brake, Signal, and Switch Operators and Locomotive Firers — tasks, the full skill graph, tools, work context, preparation, wages by percentile, industries, AI exposure and the AI work map.

More comparisons

Related occupations you can place side by side on the same sourced scale.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

Cite this page
Plain

Singulariki. "Locomotive Engineers vs Railroad Brake, Signal, and Switch Operators and Locomotive Firers." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/compare/locomotive-engineers-vs-railroad-brake-signal-and-switch-operators-and-locomotive-firers

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Locomotive Engineers vs Railroad Brake, Signal, and Switch Operators and Locomotive Firers. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/locomotive-engineers-vs-railroad-brake-signal-and-switch-operators-and-locomotive-firers

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-locomotive-engineers-vs-railroad-brake-signal-and-switch-operators-and-locomotive-firers,
  title  = {Locomotive Engineers vs Railroad Brake, Signal, and Switch Operators and Locomotive Firers},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/compare/locomotive-engineers-vs-railroad-brake-signal-and-switch-operators-and-locomotive-firers}
}

Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.