Rail Yard Engineers and Hostlers
Transportation & Material MovingAI exposure
- Data source: BLSPublished: 2026-08
Moderate· relative
LowFour relative bandsVery highGroup-level value
Scale, basis and source
Four relative bands (Low / Moderate / High / Very high)
831 detailed occupations in the BLS Employment Projections table. Assigned per National Employment Matrix (NEM) code, so occupations sharing a NEM code carry the same band
- Data source: AnthropicPublished: 2026-03
0.000
0.000Range of values carried here0.745Scale, basis and source
- Data source: ILOPublished: 2025
0.20
0.09Range of values carried here0.70Group-level value
Scale, basis and source
Generative AI exposure index, 0–1 as published
ISCO-08 unit group — every occupation sharing the code gets this value
Computed by this site, not published by the ILO: of the 1,012 occupations this site links to the ILO dataset, 86% score at or above this value.
What kind of figure this source publishes
The BLS category is a relative rank, not an absolute level, and it is not a first-hand measurement: it groups an occupation's percentile ranks across several published studies into four bands. It is not an employment or wage forecast, not a probability of adoption, and it does not separate automation from augmentation.
Task-level exposure
Exposed tasks only| Task | Claude.aiRaw / share % |
|---|---|
Receive, relay, and act upon instructions and inquiries from train operations and customer service center personnel.53-4013 | 0.0026100.0 |
| Not observed on any surface — 24 task(s) — These tasks have no row in the source for this release. The 0 in the share row is a display-stage composition ratio; absence is what the — in the raw row states. | |
Confer with conductors and other workers via radiotelephones or computers to exchange switching information. | —0 |
Signal crew members for movement of engines or trains, using lanterns, hand signals, radios, or telephones. | —0 |
Observe and respond to wayside and cab signals, including color light signals, position signals, torpedoes, flags, and hot box detectors. | —0 |
Drive engines within railroad yards or other establishments to couple, uncouple, or switch railroad cars. | —0 |
Inspect engines before and after use to ensure proper operation. | —0 |
Apply and release hand brakes. | —0 |
Read switching instructions and daily car schedules to determine work to be performed, or receive orders from yard conductors. | —0 |
Inspect the condition of stationary trains, rolling stock, and equipment. | —0 |
Observe water levels and oil, air, and steam pressure gauges to ensure proper operation of equipment. | —0 |
Spot cars for loading and unloading at customer locations. | —0 |
Inspect track for defects such as broken rails and switch malfunctions. | —0 |
Ride on moving cars by holding onto grab irons and standing on ladder steps. | —0 |
Operate track switches, derails, automatic switches, and retarders to change routing of train or cars. | —0 |
Couple and uncouple air hoses and electrical connections between cars. | —0 |
Report arrival and departure times, train delays, work order completion, and time on duty. | —0 |
Pull knuckles to open them for coupling. | —0 |
Provide assistance in aligning drawbars, using available equipment to lift, pull, or push on the drawbars. | —0 |
Drive locomotives to and from various stations in roundhouses to have locomotives cleaned, serviced, repaired, or supplied. | —0 |
Record numbers of cars available, numbers of cars sent to repair stations, and types of service needed. | —0 |
Perform routine repair and maintenance duties. | —0 |
Operate and control dinkey engines to transport and shunt cars at industrial or mine sites. | —0 |
Operate flatcars equipped with derricks or railcars to transport personnel or equipment. | —0 |
Provide assistance in the installation or repair of rails and ties. | —0 |
Operate switching diesel engines to switch railroad cars, using remote controls. | —0 |
Values in this tab are predicted labels, not observations. Eloundou et al. (2023) published two rating regimes — human raters and GPT-4 — and the β shown here is derived from the GPT-4 rater basis alone; the same task can take a different value under the other regime. The unit and the meaning differ from the observed shares (%) in the other tabs, so do not place them on the same axis.
| Task | βE1 + 0.5 × E2 |
|---|---|
Confer with conductors and other workers via radiotelephones or computers to exchange switching information.O*NET Task ID 10665 | 1.0 |
Read switching instructions and daily car schedules to determine work to be performed, or receive orders from yard conductors.O*NET Task ID 10671 | 1.0 |
Receive, relay, and act upon instructions and inquiries from train operations and customer service center personnel.O*NET Task ID 10678 | 1.0 |
Report arrival and departure times, train delays, work order completion, and time on duty.O*NET Task ID 10680 | 1.0 |
Record numbers of cars available, numbers of cars sent to repair stations, and types of service needed.O*NET Task ID 10684 | 1.0 |
Signal crew members for movement of engines or trains, using lanterns, hand signals, radios, or telephones.O*NET Task ID 10666 | 0.0 |
Observe and respond to wayside and cab signals, including color light signals, position signals, torpedoes, flags, and hot box detectors.O*NET Task ID 10667 | 0.0 |
Drive engines within railroad yards or other establishments to couple, uncouple, or switch railroad cars.O*NET Task ID 10668 | 0.0 |
Inspect engines before and after use to ensure proper operation.O*NET Task ID 10669 | 0.0 |
Apply and release hand brakes.O*NET Task ID 10670 | 0.0 |
Inspect the condition of stationary trains, rolling stock, and equipment.O*NET Task ID 10672 | 0.0 |
Observe water levels and oil, air, and steam pressure gauges to ensure proper operation of equipment.O*NET Task ID 10673 | 0.0 |
Spot cars for loading and unloading at customer locations.O*NET Task ID 10674 | 0.0 |
Inspect track for defects such as broken rails and switch malfunctions.O*NET Task ID 10675 | 0.0 |
Ride on moving cars by holding onto grab irons and standing on ladder steps.O*NET Task ID 10676 | 0.0 |
Operate track switches, derails, automatic switches, and retarders to change routing of train or cars.O*NET Task ID 10677 | 0.0 |
Couple and uncouple air hoses and electrical connections between cars.O*NET Task ID 10679 | 0.0 |
Pull knuckles to open them for coupling.O*NET Task ID 10681 | 0.0 |
Provide assistance in aligning drawbars, using available equipment to lift, pull, or push on the drawbars.O*NET Task ID 10682 | 0.0 |
Drive locomotives to and from various stations in roundhouses to have locomotives cleaned, serviced, repaired, or supplied.O*NET Task ID 10683 | 0.0 |
Perform routine repair and maintenance duties.O*NET Task ID 10685 | 0.0 |
Operate and control dinkey engines to transport and shunt cars at industrial or mine sites.O*NET Task ID 10686 | 0.0 |
Operate flatcars equipped with derricks or railcars to transport personnel or equipment.O*NET Task ID 10687 | 0.0 |
Provide assistance in the installation or repair of rails and ties.O*NET Task ID 10688 | 0.0 |
Operate switching diesel engines to switch railroad cars, using remote controls.O*NET Task ID 10689 | 0.0 |
β = E1 + 0.5 × E2 · E1 = tasks where direct LLM access alone cuts time by at least 50%, E2 = tasks where software built on top of an LLM cuts time by at least 50%. Values take only 0 / 0.5 / 1.0.
Data sources & licenses — O*NET®, Anthropic Economic Index, Eloundou et al. (2023): see full notices on the Credits page