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Boston Career Explorer

Construction and Extraction

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.

Also called: Machine Operator, Track Equipment Operator (TEO), Track Inspector, Track Laborer, Track Maintainer, Track Repair Person

Median pay in Greater Boston
$85,240
$40.98/hr
Jobs in Greater Boston
280
Massachusetts 2024–2034
Not published
Typical U.S. entry requirement
High school diploma or equivalent
plus Moderate-term on-the-job training

Greater Boston: Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metro area, May 2025. Growth and openings: Massachusetts statewide projection.

Pay range in Greater Boston

Yearly pay in Greater Boston by percentile
10th25thMedian75th90th
$63,940$63,940$85,240$94,330$95,830

10% of workers earn less than the first figure and 10% earn more than the last.

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.

AI and this job

AI exposure: how much of this job’s work AI tools can do or help with, based on national research. It is not a forecast of job loss.

Lower exposure4 of 100

The index averages three national research measures, each shown as a percentile of all jobs:

  • AIOE 5
  • Language-model AIOE 3
  • GPTs-are-GPTs 3

Observed AI use today: Little or none (Anthropic Economic Index)

AI exposure for rail-track equipment operators is lower, and observed AI use is little or none. AI tools may help somewhat with analyzing track inspection information and reporting damage. Running spike drivers, cutting rails, laying track, and repairing switches are hands-on machine and repair tasks that rely on people.

Likely to change

  • Reviewing track inspection information
  • Reporting damaged or broken track

Still relies on people

  • Operating spike driving and laying machines
  • Repairing track switches with hand tools

Written with AI from the data on this page. Check with a career coach before making a decision.

Next steps from here

Related jobs that build on what you already do.

  • Structural Iron and Steel Workers

    Working with heavy steel and machines carries over. Steel workers earn a Boston median of $120,840 and train through an apprenticeship.

    Pay difference
    +$35,600 median
    AI exposure
    Lower
    MA growth
    +6.1%
    To get started
    High school diploma or equivalent

  • Brickmasons and Blockmasons

    Precise measuring and layout match the care that track gauge work needs. Brickmasons earn a Boston median of $96,960 through an apprenticeship.

    Pay difference
    +$11,720 median
    AI exposure
    Lower
    MA growth
    +5.3%
    To get started
    High school diploma or equivalent

Training near Boston

College and school programs in the Boston metro area that lead to this job, with 2023-24 completions (IPEDS).

No college programs near Boston map to this job. Many people enter through on-the-job training or apprenticeship.

Talk to a career coach at the Office of Workforce Development about apprenticeships and City partner programs.

Related occupations

Talk to a career coach

A coach at the Office of Workforce Development can help you plan your next step, and connect you with training, apprenticeships and City partner programs that are not listed here.

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