About This Career

Installs, inspects, tests, maintains, or repairs electric gate crossings, signals, signal equipment, track switches, section lines, or intercommunications systems within a railroad system.

This career is part of the Transportation, Distribution and Logistics cluster Facility and Mobile Equipment Maintenance pathway.

A person in this career:

• Inspects and tests operation, mechanical parts, and circuitry of gate crossings, signals, and signal equipment such as interlocks and hotbox detectors.
• Inspects electrical units of railroad grade crossing gates and repairs loose bolts and defective electrical connections and parts.
• Tests and repairs track circuits.
• Drives motor vehicles to job sites.
• Installs, inspects, maintains, and repairs various railroad service equipment on the road or in the shop, including railroad signal systems.
• Tightens loose bolts, using wrenches, and tests circuits and connections by opening and closing gates.
• Replaces defective wiring, broken lenses, or burned-out light bulbs.
• Inspects switch-controlling mechanisms on trolley wires and in track beds, using hand tools and test equipment.
• Inspects, maintains, and replaces batteries as needed.
• Records and reports information about mileage or track inspected, repairs performed, and equipment requiring replacement.

Working Conditions and Physical Demands

People who do this job report that:

• You would often handle loads up to 20 lbs., sometimes up to 50 lbs. You might do a lot of lifting, carrying, pushing or pulling.
• Work in this occupation involves use of protective items such as safety shoes, glasses, gloves, hearing protection, a hard hat, or personal flotation devices
• Exposure to pollutants, gases, dust, fumes, odors, poor ventilation, etc.
• Conditions are very hot (above 90 F) or very cold (under 32 F)
• Work in this occupation involves using your hands to hold, control, and feel objects more than one-third of the time
• Sound and noise levels are loud and distracting
• Work in this occupation requires being outside most of the time
• Work in this occupation involves standing more than one-third of the time

Working in this career involves (physical activities):

• Picking out a particular sound in the presence of other sounds
• Identifying color and seeing differences in color, including shades and brightness
• Judging how far away an object is, or which of several objects is closer or farther away
• Seeing clearly at a distance
• Detecting sounds and hearing the differences between sounds of different pitch and loudness
• Seeing clearly up close
• Speaking clearly enough to be able to be understood by others
• Identifying and understanding the speech of another person
• Using abdominal and lower back muscles repeatedly or over time without tiring

Work Hours and Travel

• Overnight travel