How To Become A Locomotive Engineer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a locomotive engineer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

The average locomotive engineer salary is $55,268. The most common degree is a bachelor's degree degree with an business major. It usually takes 1-2 years of experience to become a locomotive engineer. Locomotive engineers with a Software Engineering Management Associate Engineer certification earn more money. Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 4% and produce 3,100 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreLocomotive EngineerUS Average

Salary

4.3

Avg. Salary $55,268

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

9.0

Growth rate 4%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

1.7

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.43%

Asian 1.92%

Black or African American 13.17%

Hispanic or Latino 10.86%

Unknown 4.68%

White 68.93%

Gender

female 4.76%

male 95.24%

Age - 47.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 47.5

Stress level

9.0

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.4

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

2.6

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a locomotive engineer

Explore locomotive engineer education requirements

Most common locomotive engineer degrees

Bachelor's

31.6 %

High School Diploma

31.3 %

Associate

24.5 %

Start to develop specific locomotive engineer skills

Skills	Percentages
Safety Procedures	13.44%
Locomotives	12.73%
FRA	10.30%
Rail Cars	6.10%
Conductors	5.86%

Complete relevant locomotive engineer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New locomotive engineers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a locomotive engineer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real locomotive engineer resumes.

Research locomotive engineer duties and responsibilities

Receive verbal directions via radio or hand signals from conductors and brakemen and subsequently follow directions accordingly.
Marshal 90-car coal trains for transfer to CSX.
Qualify on GCOR and CSX signal and operating rules.
Evaluate train make-up to properly handle placement of HAZMAT materials.

Prepare your locomotive engineer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your locomotive engineer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a locomotive engineer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable locomotive engineer resume templates

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