# 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.

- Edition: Data verified Nov 2026 · CollegesRef 2026–27 edition
- Page: https://www.collegesref.com/careers/rail-track-laying-and-maintenance-equipment-operators
- SOC code: 47-4061.00
- Career family: Construction and extraction
- Median annual pay: $70,070 (10th percentile $45,640, 90th percentile $87,420)
- Projected growth: Slower than average, +1.5%
- Openings a year: 1,200
- Typical entry education: High school diploma
- Bright outlook: no
- Data years: BLS 2025 wages · 2025–35 projections

## Interest profile (code RCI)

| Interest area | Score (0–100) |
| --- | ---: |
| Realistic (R) | 100 |
| Investigative (I) | 12 |
| Artistic (A) | 0 |
| Social (S) | 0 |
| Enterprising (E) | 0 |
| Conventional (C) | 52 |

## What you'd do

- Handling and Moving Objects (importance 88/100)
- Making Decisions and Solving Problems (importance 87/100)
- Controlling Machines and Processes (importance 85/100)
- Getting Information (importance 84/100)
- Performing General Physical Activities (importance 83/100)
- Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work (importance 79/100)
- Operating Vehicles, Mechanized Devices, or Equipment (importance 77/100)
- Repairing and Maintaining Mechanical Equipment (importance 74/100)
- Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates (importance 74/100)
- Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events (importance 74/100)

## Skills

Operation and Control, Operations Monitoring, Equipment Maintenance, Repairing, Active Listening, Judgment and Decision Making, Monitoring, Quality Control Analysis, Time Management, Troubleshooting

## Knowledge

Public Safety and Security, Transportation, Mechanical, Production and Processing, Mathematics, Building and Construction, Education and Training, English Language, Administration and Management, Engineering and Technology

## Also called

Ballast Cleaning Machine Operator, Machine Operator, Portable Grinding Machine Operator, Rail Maintenance Worker, Rail Track Layer, Rail Track Maintainer, Railroad Track Mechanic, Railway Equipment Operator, Section Hand, Section Laborer

## Majors that lead here (NCES CIP–SOC crosswalk, 4-digit CIP)

- [Ground Transportation](https://www.collegesref.com/programs/4902) (CIP 4902, 213 colleges)

## Colleges with strong outcomes (College Scorecard, 2025)

| College | Program | Earnings 1 yr | Earnings 4 yrs | Median debt |
| --- | --- | ---: | ---: | ---: |
| [Pennsylvania College of Technology](https://www.collegesref.com/college/pennsylvania-college-of-technology-2096) | Ground Transportation | $54,938 | $62,389 | $12,000 |

## Related careers

- [Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operators](https://www.collegesref.com/careers/paving-surfacing-and-tamping-equipment-operators): $53,340 median pay
- [Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators](https://www.collegesref.com/careers/operating-engineers-and-other-construction-equipment-operators): $59,850 median pay
- [Millwrights](https://www.collegesref.com/careers/millwrights): $65,700 median pay
- [Pile Driver Operators](https://www.collegesref.com/careers/pile-driver-operators): $73,300 median pay
- [Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining](https://www.collegesref.com/careers/excavating-and-loading-machine-and-dragline-operators-surface-mining): $57,430 median pay
- [Rail Car Repairers](https://www.collegesref.com/careers/rail-car-repairers): $67,530 median pay

## Sources

- [O*NET Database](https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html), version 31.0 (CC BY 4.0)
- [BLS Employment Projections](https://www.bls.gov/emp/tables.htm), version 2025-35, data year 2025 (Public domain (U.S. government work))
- [BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics](https://www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm), version 2025, data year 2025 (Public domain (U.S. government work))
- [NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk](https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/cipcode/resources.aspx?y=56), version 2020, data year 2020 (Public domain (U.S. government work))

O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. CollegesRef has modified all or some of this information.