How To Become A Rail Technician: What It Is and Career Path

What is a rail technician and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a rail technician. For example, did you know that they make an average of $21.93 an hour? That's $45,620 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 1% and produce 10,600 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreRail TechnicianUS Average

Salary

3.6

Avg. Salary $45,620

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.9

Growth rate 1%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.2

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.68%

Asian 6.08%

Black or African American 14.57%

Hispanic or Latino 16.40%

Unknown 7.38%

White 54.89%

Gender

female 5.76%

male 94.24%

Age - 50

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 - 50

Stress level

8.9

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.4

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.3

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a rail technician

Explore rail technician education requirements

Most common rail technician degrees

High School Diploma

30.2 %

Associate

26.0 %

Bachelor's

20.8 %

Start to develop specific rail technician skills

Skills	Percentages
Rail Cars	32.11%
HVAC	11.78%
Test Equipment	10.65%
Safety Regulations	9.55%
FRA	8.56%

Complete relevant rail technician training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New rail technicians 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 rail technician based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real rail technician resumes.

Research rail technician duties and responsibilities

Maintain up to 100 cars and locomotives.
Perform functional test such as break system and HVAC analysis.
Cut materials to specify sizes for installation using power saws, and torches.
Compose written reports of data collect from patient evaluation and present to department chief for thorough analysis of patient diagnosis.

Prepare your rail technician resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your rail technician 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 rail technician resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable rail technician resume templates

Build a professional rail technician resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your rail technician resume.