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

What is a railroad signal technician and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a railroad signal technician. For example, did you know that they make an average of $24.21 an hour? That's $50,367 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 10% and produce 12,100 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreRailroad Signal TechnicianUS Average

Salary

3.9

Avg. Salary $50,367

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.7

Growth rate 10%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

9.6

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.06%

Asian 2.35%

Black or African American 6.71%

Hispanic or Latino 16.52%

Unknown 4.79%

White 68.56%

Gender

female 5.56%

male 94.44%

Age - 43

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 - 43

Stress level

7.7

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

4.4

Complexity level is basic

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.0

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a railroad signal technician

Explore railroad signal technician education requirements

Most common railroad signal technician degrees

High School Diploma

41.2 %

Diploma

23.5 %

Associate

23.5 %

Start to develop specific railroad signal technician skills

Skills	Percentages
FRA	70.37%
CDL	16.38%
DOT	13.25%

Complete relevant railroad signal technician training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New railroad signal 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 railroad signal technician based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real railroad signal technician resumes.

Research railroad signal technician duties and responsibilities

Used UNIX base analysis systems to accomplish all tasks.
Maintain and repair circuit breakers on systems up to 35000 VAC and 1000VDC.
Perform collection, identification and signals analysis of all communications activity in support of critical DoD missions.
Monitor system for signal leakage using GPS technology, including the generation of all reports necessary to maintain FCC compliance.

Prepare your railroad signal technician resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your railroad signal technician resume.

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Choose from 10+ customizable railroad signal technician resume templates

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