Rail Car Repairers
Diagnose, adjust, repair, or overhaul railroad rolling stock, mine cars, or mass transit rail cars.
Most important skills
- Troubleshooting
- Repairing
- Equipment Maintenance
- Critical Thinking
- Operations Monitoring
- Quality Control Analysis
- Operation and Control
- Active Listening
Key knowledge
- Mechanical
- Production and Processing
- Design
- Administration and Management
- Building and Construction
- Engineering and Technology
- Transportation
- Mathematics
What the work involves
- Repair or replace defective or worn parts such as bearings, pistons, and gears, using hand tools, torque wrenches, power tools, and welding equipment.
- Test units for operability before and after repairs.
- Record conditions of cars, and repair and maintenance work performed or to be performed.
- Remove locomotives, car mechanical units, or other components, using pneumatic hoists and jacks, pinch bars, hand tools, and cutting torches.
- Inspect components such as bearings, seals, gaskets, wheels, and coupler assemblies to determine if repairs are needed.
- Inspect the interior and exterior of rail cars coming into rail yards to identify defects and to determine the extent of wear and damage.
- Adjust repaired or replaced units as needed to ensure proper operation.
- Perform scheduled maintenance, and clean units and components.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Realistic, Conventional, Investigative.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (61.4% of respondents)
- Related experience
- None (32.6%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 3 months, up to and including 6 months (20.7%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 2: Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Rail Car Repairers is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Low | Lower on contact with others than 77% of occupations compared | 56% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Low | Lower on dealing with the public than 72% of occupations compared | 44% of surveyed respondents chose “Not important at all” |
| Teamwork | Low | Lower on teamwork than 70% of occupations compared | — |
| Freedom to make decisions | Moderate | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 50% of occupations compared | 51% of surveyed respondents chose “Some freedom” |
| Time pressure | High | Higher on time pressure than 60% of occupations compared | 45% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Conflict situations | Low | Lower on conflict situations than 64% of occupations compared | 32% of surveyed respondents chose “Never” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Moderate | Lower on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 59% of occupations compared | 38% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Consequence of error | High | Higher on consequence of error than 76% of occupations compared | 37% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: high
- Conflict situations: low
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: moderate
- Consequence of error: high
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 7.75%
- Occasional contact with others: 12.59%
- Contact with others about half the time: 10.2%
- Contact with others most of the time: 13.27%
- Constant contact with others: 56.19%
n = 28, Incumbent 08/2019
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 43.96%
- Fairly important: 11.11%
- Important: 0.92%
- Very important: 5.41%
- Extremely important: 38.6%
n = 27, Incumbent 08/2019
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 7.75%
- Fairly important: 7.66%
- Important: 11.15%
- Very important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Extremely important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 28, Incumbent 08/2019
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0.79%
- Very little freedom: 6.09%
- Limited freedom: 7.02%
- Some freedom: 51.01%
- A lot of freedom: 35.08%
n = 28, Incumbent 08/2019
Time pressure
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 17.84%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 10.11%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 26.81%
- Every day: 45.24%
n = 28, Incumbent 08/2019
Conflict situations
- Never: 31.99%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 22.93%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 9.31%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 23.07%
- Every day: 12.7%
n = 28, Incumbent 08/2019
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 21.04%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 38.14%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 12.61%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 14.44%
- Every day: 13.78%
n = 28, Incumbent 08/2019
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 15.46%
- Fairly serious: 6.09%
- Serious: 13.94%
- Very serious: 27.91%
- Extremely serious: 36.6%
n = 28, Incumbent 08/2019
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O*NET-SOC 49-3043.00 · SOC 49-3043 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8