All careers

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.

What you’d do

  • Repair or adjust track switches, using wrenches and replacement parts.
  • Patrol assigned track sections so that damaged or broken track can be located and reported.
  • Engage mechanisms that lay tracks or rails to specified gauges.
  • Cut rails to specified lengths, using rail saws.
  • 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.
  • Raise rails, using hydraulic jacks, to allow for tie removal and replacement.
  • Lubricate machines, change oil, or fill hydraulic reservoirs to specified levels.

Skills that matter

  • Operation and Control
  • Operations Monitoring
  • Equipment Maintenance
  • Repairing
  • Active Listening
  • Judgment and Decision Making

How to get there

Little to some preparation: usually a high school diploma or GED, though some jobs do not need one

Also called

  • Track Inspector
  • Track Laborer
  • Track Maintainer
  • Track Repairer
  • Machine Operator
  • Track Equipment Operator (TEO)

Related careers

See all careers

  • Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operators

    Operate equipment used for applying concrete, asphalt, or other materials to road beds, parking lots, or airport runways and taxiways or…

    Little to some preparation: usually a high school diploma or GED, though some jobs do not need one

  • Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators

    • Bright Outlook
    • Rapid Growth

    Operate one or several types of power construction equipment, such as motor graders, bulldozers, scrapers, compressors, pumps, derricks…

    Little to some preparation: usually a high school diploma or GED, though some jobs do not need one

  • Millwrights

    Install, dismantle, or move machinery and heavy equipment according to layout plans, blueprints, or other drawings.

    Little to some preparation: usually a high school diploma or GED, though some jobs do not need one

  • Pile Driver Operators

    Operate pile drivers mounted on skids, barges, crawler treads, or locomotive cranes to drive pilings for retaining walls, bulkheads, and…

    Little to some preparation: usually a high school diploma or GED, though some jobs do not need one

  • Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining

    Operate or tend machinery at surface mining site, equipped with scoops, shovels, or buckets to excavate and load loose materials.

    Little to some preparation: usually a high school diploma or GED, though some jobs do not need one

  • Rail Car Repairers

    Diagnose, adjust, repair, or overhaul railroad rolling stock, mine cars, or mass transit rail cars.

    Little to some preparation: usually a high school diploma or GED, though some jobs do not need one