Career Details :: Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators
Description
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 road-bed tamping machine operators.
Experience
No previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, a person can become a general office clerk even if he/she has never worked in an office before.
Education
These occupations may require a high school diploma or GED certificate. Some may require a formal training course to obtain a license.
Training
Employees in these occupations need anywhere from a few days to a few months of training. Usually, an experienced worker could show you how to do the job.
Tasks
- Observes leveling indicator arms to verify levelness and alignment of track.
- Drives graders, tamping machines, brooms, and ballast-cleaning-spreading machines to redistribute gravel and ballast between rails.
- Lubricates machines, changes oil, and fills hydraulic reservoirs to specified levels.
- Drives vehicle that automatically moves and lays track or rails over section of track to be constructed, repaired, or maintained.
- Engages mechanism that lays track or rail to specified gauge.
- Turns wheels of machine, using lever controls, to adjust guidelines for track alignments and grades, following specifications.
- Adjusts controls of machines that spread, shape, raise, level, and align track, according to specifications.
- Strings and attaches wire-guidelines machine to rails to level or align track or rails.
- Pushes control to close grasping device on track or rail section to raise or move section to specified location.
Related Careers
- Dragline Operators
- Grader, Bulldozer, and Scraper Operators
- Highway Maintenance Workers
- Logging Tractor Operators
- Operating Engineers
- Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operators
- Pile-Driver Operators
- Shuttle Car Operators
Important Abilities
General Work Activities
- Operating Vehicles or Equipment
- Controlling Machines and Processes
- Handling and Moving Objects
- Evaluating Information Against Standards
- Getting Information Needed to Do the Job
Important Skills
Frequent Work Context
- Consequence of Error
- Degree of Automation
- Responsible for Others' Health & Safety
- Outdoors
- Importance of Being Sure All Is Done
Institutions Offering Related Majors
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