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

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

A factual, source-backed comparison of Railroad Brake, Signal, and Switch Operators and Locomotive Firers and Locomotive Engineers 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.”

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

At a glance

Dimension Railroad Brake, Signal, and Switch Operators and Locomotive Firers Locomotive Engineers
Median pay $65,480 $77,400
Employment 12,460 31,990
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection About average (+1.0%) About average (+0.7%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 1,000 2,200
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 Low · 6th pct Moderate · 34th 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, Control Precision, Near Vision, Oral Comprehension, Far Vision, Monitoring, Problem Sensitivity, Perceptual Speed, Reaction Time, Public Safety and Security, Operations Monitoring, Manual Dexterity, Multilimb Coordination, Response Orientation, Rate Control, Speech Recognition, Active Listening, Critical Thinking, Operation and Control, Written Comprehension, Oral Expression, Deductive Reasoning, Inductive Reasoning, Information Ordering, Speech Clarity, English Language, Reading Comprehension, Flexibility of Closure, Auditory Attention, Judgment and Decision Making, Time Management, Selective Attention, Time Sharing.

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

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

Specific to Locomotive Engineers

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

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 Railroad Brake, Signal, and Switch Operators and Locomotive Firers

Specific to Locomotive Engineers

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Railroad Brake, Signal, and Switch Operators and Locomotive Firers or Locomotive Engineers — 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. "Railroad Brake, Signal, and Switch Operators and Locomotive Firers vs Locomotive Engineers." 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/railroad-brake-signal-and-switch-operators-and-locomotive-firers-vs-locomotive-engineers

APA

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

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-railroad-brake-signal-and-switch-operators-and-locomotive-firers-vs-locomotive-engineers,
  title  = {Railroad Brake, Signal, and Switch Operators and Locomotive Firers vs Locomotive Engineers},
  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/railroad-brake-signal-and-switch-operators-and-locomotive-firers-vs-locomotive-engineers}
}

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