Observe leveling indicator arms to verify levelness and alignment of tracks.

“Observe leveling indicator arms to verify levelness and alignment of tracks.” is a core task performed by Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators. Among the occupation's 26 rated tasks, workers place it 23rd by importance (#4 most important). About 87% of workers say it is relevant to their job.

This is a single occupation-specific task statement from O*NET. The figures below describe how central the task is to the job and what independent studies measure about AI and this kind of work — not a prediction that the task will be automated.

Work activities this task rolls up to

O*NET groups concrete tasks into broader work activities shared across many occupations.

• Inspect completed work or finished products. in Inspecting Equipment, Structures, or Materials

AI exposure

The OpenAI / Eloundou “GPTs are GPTs” study rates this task E0. No direct exposure — current language models give little or no time savings on this task.

Exposure measures whether a model could meaningfully speed the task up — it is an estimate of overlap with model capabilities, not a measure of whether the work will be done by software. The study's intermediate score (β) for this task is 0.00. Automation potential label: T0.

Other tasks in this occupation

• Patrol assigned track sections so that damaged or broken track can be located and reported. · importance 4.5
• Repair or adjust track switches, using wrenches and replacement parts. · importance 4.3
• Weld sections of track together, such as switch points and frogs. · importance 4.2
• Operate single- or multiple-head spike driving machines to drive spikes into ties and secure rails. · importance 4.1
• Operate track wrenches to tighten or loosen bolts at joints that hold ends of rails together. · importance 4.0
• String and attach wire-guidelines machine to rails so that tracks or rails can be aligned or leveled. · importance 4.0
• Cut rails to specified lengths, using rail saws. · importance 4.0
• Lubricate machines, change oil, or fill hydraulic reservoirs to specified levels. · importance 3.9
• Drill holes through rails, tie plates, or fishplates for insertion of bolts or spikes, using power drills. · importance 3.9
• Clean tracks or clear ice or snow from tracks or switch boxes. · importance 3.9
• Clean, grade, or level ballast on railroad tracks. · importance 3.9
• Raise rails, using hydraulic jacks, to allow for tie removal and replacement. · importance 3.8
• Adjust controls of machines that spread, shape, raise, level, or align track, according to specifications. · importance 3.8
• Engage mechanisms that lay tracks or rails to specified gauges. · importance 3.8

See all tasks on the Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators page.

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.

• O*NET 30.3 U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development
• “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130 OpenAI / academic

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

@misc{singulariki-task-13654,
  title  = {Observe leveling indicator arms to verify levelness and alignment of tracks.},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/tasks/task-13654}
}