Rail Construction and Maintenance Operatives

Rail construction and maintenance operatives lay, re-lay, repair and examine railway track and maintain surrounding areas.

Wages

New workers
AVERAGE
Experienced
£ 18,023
£ 38,131
£ 54,509

Available jobs

In the past year there were 8,459 vacancies for this type of job

Related courses

People work towards these careers by taking these courses at college and uni.

What they do most days?

  • Fastens together sections of rail by bolting fishplates to rails.

  • Positions lengths of rail, sets of points and crossovers and secures rail with bolts, wooden wedges or clips.

  • Spreads ballast and lays sleepers or metal plates at specified intervals.

  • Lubricates points, examines fences, drains, culverts and embankments and carries out any necessary maintenance.

  • Checks tightness of bolts and wedges, replaces damaged rail chairs and repacks ballast under sleepers if necessary.

  • Patrols length of track and visually inspects rails, bolts, fishplates and chairs for distortion or fracture.

Hard Skills

Hard skills are specific, learnable, measurable, often industry or occupation-specific abilities related to a position.

Skills are ranked based on the number of job adverts that list them as required skills.

  • Safety Standards

  • Civil Engineering

  • Project Management

  • Risk Analysis

  • Systems Engineering

  • Finite Element Methods

  • Structural Engineering

  • Electrical Engineering

  • Project Engineering

  • Verification And Validation

Soft Skills

Soft skills can be self-taught and usually do not necessitate a certain completed level of education.

Skills are ranked based on the number of job adverts that list them as required skills.

  • Communications

  • Management

  • Problem Solving

  • Customer Service

  • English Language

  • Planning

  • Detail Oriented

  • Operations

  • Sales

  • Teamwork

How do I get a job like this?

People in these types of job started their career paths after studying courses like the ones below.