# Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators

> Lay, repair, and maintain track for standard or narrow-gauge railroad equipment used in regular railroad service or in plant yards, quarries, sand and gravel pits, and mines. Includes ballast cleaning machine operators and railroad bed tamping machine operators.

- **SOC code:** 47-4061.00
- **Canonical URL:** https://singulariki.com/roles/role-47-4061-00
- **Also known as:** Track Inspector, Track Laborer, Track Maintainer, Track Repairer, Machine Operator, Rail Maintenance Worker, Track Equipment Operator (TEO), Track Walker
- **Frame:** "AI exposure" means task overlap (how codifiable the work is), not jobs lost or a forecast. Every figure below is traced to a named public dataset.

## What this work is

**Core tasks** (O*NET):
- Patrol assigned track sections so that damaged or broken track can be located and reported.
- Repair or adjust track switches, using wrenches and replacement parts.
- Weld sections of track together, such as switch points and frogs.
- Observe leveling indicator arms to verify levelness and alignment of tracks.
- Operate single- or multiple-head spike driving machines to drive spikes into ties and secure rails.
- Operate track wrenches to tighten or loosen bolts at joints that hold ends of rails together.
- String and attach wire-guidelines machine to rails so that tracks or rails can be aligned or leveled.
- Cut rails to specified lengths, using rail saws.
- Lubricate machines, change oil, or fill hydraulic reservoirs to specified levels.
- Drill holes through rails, tie plates, or fishplates for insertion of bolts or spikes, using power drills.
- Clean tracks or clear ice or snow from tracks or switch boxes.
- Clean, grade, or level ballast on railroad tracks.

## Skills, tools, capabilities

**Knowledge, skills & abilities** (O*NET, highest importance first):
- Control Precision _(ability)_
- Operations Monitoring _(transferable_skill)_
- Operation and Control _(transferable_skill)_
- Manual Dexterity _(ability)_
- Multilimb Coordination _(ability)_
- Transportation _(knowledge)_
- Mechanical _(knowledge)_
- Problem Sensitivity _(ability)_
- Arm-Hand Steadiness _(ability)_
- Reaction Time _(ability)_
- Far Vision _(ability)_
- Building and Construction _(knowledge)_

**Skills in demand:**
- Visualization _(Specialized Skill)_
- Depth Perception _(Common Skill)_
- Equipment Maintenance _(Specialized Skill)_
- Information Ordering _(Specialized Skill)_
- Finger Dexterity _(Common Skill)_
- Deductive Reasoning _(Common Skill)_
- Critical Thinking _(Common Skill)_
- Time Management _(Common Skill)_
- Microsoft Excel _(Common Skill)_
- Inductive Reasoning _(Common Skill)_
- Active Listening _(Common Skill)_
- Mathematics _(Common Skill)_

**Tools & technology:**
- Microsoft Excel _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Office software _(hot technology)_
- Timekeeping software

## AI exposure & outlook

- **AI task-overlap index:** 1st percentile (Low) across all occupations — composite of current-era exposure studies (ai-exposure-index-v1).
- **Overall AI exposure (Felten et al.):** 7th percentile (Low) — source: felten_aioe.
- **LLM task exposure, γ (OpenAI / Eloundou):** 3rd percentile (Low) — source: eloundou_gamma.
- **AI assistant applicability (Microsoft):** 0th percentile (Low) — source: microsoft_applicability.
- **Frey–Osborne (2013, historical computerization estimate):** 76th percentile — kept separate from current-era studies.
- **Remote-capable (Dingel–Neiman):** no — task structure, not who actually works remote.
- **Projected employment (BLS 2024–34):** 1.6% growth (About average); 1.1k annual openings; 15k → 15.3k jobs.
- **Pay & employment (BLS OEWS, May 2024):** median $67,370; 16,480 employed.

## Sources

- **O*NET** (30.3) — U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS)** (May 2024) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS Employment Projections** (2024–2034) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **Microsoft “Working with AI”** (working-with-ai) — Microsoft Research. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/
- **“GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.)** (arXiv 2303.10130) — OpenAI / academic. https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10130
- **AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE)** (Felten, Raj & Seamans) — academic. https://github.com/AIOE-Data/AIOE
- **Frey & Osborne (2013)** (frey-osborne-automation) — academic. https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/publications/the-future-of-employment/
- **Dingel & Neiman (2020)** (dingel-neiman-workathome) — academic. https://github.com/jdingel/DingelNeiman-workathome

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_Generated from Singulariki's joined dataset; data snapshot 2026-06-02T21:00:32.945303+00:00. https://singulariki.com/roles/role-47-4061-00_