Transit and Railroad Police
Protect and police railroad and transit property, employees, or passengers.
Most important skills
- Active Listening
- Speaking
- Critical Thinking
- Complex Problem Solving
- Monitoring
- Social Perceptiveness
- Writing
- Active Learning
Key knowledge
- Public Safety and Security
- Law and Government
- English Language
- Customer and Personal Service
- Transportation
- Education and Training
- Geography
- Psychology
What the work involves
- Patrol railroad yards, cars, stations, or other facilities to protect company property or shipments and to maintain order.
- Examine credentials of unauthorized persons attempting to enter secured areas.
- Apprehend or remove trespassers or thieves from railroad property or coordinate with law enforcement agencies in apprehensions and removals.
- Prepare reports documenting investigation activities and results.
- Investigate or direct investigations of freight theft, suspicious damage or loss of passengers' valuables, or other crimes on railroad property.
- Direct security activities at derailments, fires, floods, or strikes involving railroad property.
- Plan or implement special safety or preventive programs, such as fire or accident prevention.
- Monitor transit areas and conduct security checks to protect railroad properties, patrons, and employees.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Realistic, Conventional, Enterprising.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Bachelor's Degree (28.4% of respondents)
- Related experience
- None (27%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 6 months, up to and including 1 year (48.6%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 3: Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Transit and Railroad Police 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 | High | Higher on contact with others than 77% of occupations compared | 70% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Very high | Higher on dealing with the public than 96% of occupations compared | 85% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | Low | Lower on teamwork than 64% of occupations compared | 60% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | High | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 74% of occupations compared | 69% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | Moderate | Lower on time pressure than 54% of occupations compared | 39% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Conflict situations | Very high | Higher on conflict situations than 98% of occupations compared | 44% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Very high | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 95% of occupations compared | — |
| Consequence of error | High | Higher on consequence of error than 79% of occupations compared | 48% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: moderate
- Conflict situations: very high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: very high
- 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: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 0%
- Contact with others about half the time: 0%
- Contact with others most of the time: 29.86%
- Constant contact with others: 70.14%
n = 29, Incumbent 07/2017
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 2.63%
- Important: 8.44%
- Very important: 4.4%
- Extremely important: 84.53%
n = 29, Incumbent 07/2017
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 17.98%
- Important: 14.97%
- Very important: 6.57%
- Extremely important: 60.49%
n = 29, Incumbent 07/2017
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 9.76%
- Limited freedom: 8.66%
- Some freedom: 12.53%
- A lot of freedom: 69.05%
n = 28, Incumbent 07/2017
Time pressure
- Never: 3.14%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 15.1%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 11.58%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 38.82%
- Every day: 31.35%
n = 29, Incumbent 07/2017
Conflict situations
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 1%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 20.77%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 34.47%
- Every day: 43.75%
n = 29, Incumbent 07/2017
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 17.98%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 4.03%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 26.53%
- Every day: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 29, Incumbent 07/2017
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 11.72%
- Fairly serious: 11.36%
- Serious: 19.77%
- Very serious: 9.32%
- Extremely serious: 47.82%
n = 28, Incumbent 07/2017
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O*NET-SOC 33-3052.00 · SOC 33-3052 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8