Career Explorer Installation and repair
Human edge, steady
Signal and track switch repairers
Install, inspect, test, maintain, or repair electric gate crossings, signals, signal equipment, track switches, section lines, or intercommunications systems within a railroad system.
More resilient than most: more resilient than 78% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is low (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it low), and US jobs are projected to change by +1.8% by 2035, slower than average. The work leans on physical dexterity.
AI struggles with much of this work. Hiring is expected to grow slower than average, or to shrink.
- Median pay (2025)
- $92,460
- Job growth to 2035
- +1.8%
- Openings a year
- 800
- People doing it (2025)
- 8,700
- Usual route in
- High school diploma, then moderate on-the-job training
Where people already use AI for this work
- Test performance of equipment or systems
- Adjust equipment to ensure adequate performance
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Inspect commercial, industrial, or production systems or equipment
- Repair tools or equipment
- Maintain tools or equipment
What the work looks like
- Inspect and test operation, mechanical parts, and circuitry of gate crossings, signals, and signal equipment such as interlocks and hotbox detectors.
- Inspect electrical units of railroad grade crossing gates and repair loose bolts and defective electrical connections and parts.
- Test and repair track circuits.
- Drive motor vehicles to job sites.
- Install, inspect, maintain, and repair various railroad service equipment on the road or in the shop, including railroad signal systems.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Tire repairers and changersHuman edge, steady, Index 91, +3.4%
- Helpers--installation, maintenance, and repair workersHuman edge, growing, Index 99, +5.3%
- RiggersHuman edge, growing, Index 81, +3.9%
- Pile driver operatorsHuman edge, steady, Index 80, -5.7%
Also known as: Signal Inspector, Signal Maintainer, Signalman, Train Control Electronic Technician, Railroad Signal Maintainer, Signal and Communications Maintainer, Signal Maintenance Technician, Signal System Testing Maintainer.
Is this career on your child's list?
Build a free Career Playbook matched to your child, or get a 90-day Action Plan with dated next steps, written for your child by name.
Sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2025 to 2035; O*NET 31.0; Microsoft Research (2025); Anthropic Economic Index (2026); Eloundou and colleagues (Science, 2024); Felten, Raj and Seamans (2023). How we score. Updated 12 October 2026.