AI exposure: Signal and Track Switch Repairers
Install, inspect, test, maintain, or repair electric gate crossings, signals, signal equipment, track switches, section lines, or intercommunications systems within a railroad system.
Reading this score
computedAt 11.3% of weighted task load, Signal and Track Switch Repairers sits at the 16th percentile, below the point where a job's centre of gravity has moved. 78.6% of what this role does is untouched, meaning current systems cannot produce that work at all, whatever the commercial incentive.
What holds the line here is embodiment. Across this occupation's 12 tasks it averages 2.83 out of 3, the highest of the five friction dimensions. In plain terms, the work has to happen in physical space. A language model cannot move matter. Until the robotics to do this work is both good enough and cheap enough to deploy widely, capability in software does not reach it.
The most exposed thing this job does is Record and report information about mileage or track inspected, repairs performed, and..., at 73.3%. The least is Clean lenses of lamps with cloths and solvents, at 0.0%. A gap of 73.3% between two parts of the same job is the reason this index publishes at task level. An occupation-wide number would have hidden both.
Within installation, maintenance and repair occupations, this one is less exposed than the median of 13.8% across the group's 50 roles, with 31 scoring higher. Being in an exposed family does not make a particular job exposed, and the reverse holds too.
What would move this score. Of 12 tasks, 1 are currently banded exposed, 0 assisted and 11 untouched. For that distribution to shift materially would take robotics cheap and reliable enough to deploy at scale, not a better language model. The score is re-computed every quarter against a fresh capability reference, and the change is published rather than quietly applied.
Where the score comes from
judgedEvery task is scored through the standardised work activities it maps to. These are this occupation’s averages on the six rubric dimensions. Capability is what AI can do; the other five are what stands in the way.
| Dimension | Mean | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | 0.83 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 2.83 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 0.54 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 1.29 | 0-3 |
| Context | 1.38 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 1.67 | 0-3 |
Task by task
12 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record and report information about mileage or track inspected, repairs performed, and equipment requiring replacement. | 73.3% | 26.7% | 0.0% | 3.76 | exposed |
| Inspect switch-controlling mechanisms on trolley wires and in track beds, using hand tools and test equipment. | 10.0% | 15.0% | 75.0% | 3.90 | untouched |
| Inspect and test operation, mechanical parts, and circuitry of gate crossings, signals, and signal equipment such as interlocks and hotbox detectors. | 9.2% | 15.8% | 75.0% | 4.49 | untouched |
| Drive motor vehicles to job sites. | 8.3% | 16.7% | 75.0% | 4.10 | untouched |
| Inspect, maintain, and replace batteries as needed. | 8.3% | 16.7% | 75.0% | 3.82 | untouched |
| Test and repair track circuits. | 7.1% | 5.4% | 87.5% | 4.14 | untouched |
| Install, inspect, maintain, and repair various railroad service equipment on the road or in the shop, including railroad signal systems. | 6.2% | 6.2% | 87.5% | 4.03 | untouched |
| Tighten loose bolts, using wrenches, and test circuits and connections by opening and closing gates. | 5.4% | 7.1% | 87.5% | 3.96 | untouched |
| Inspect electrical units of railroad grade crossing gates and repair loose bolts and defective electrical connections and parts. | 3.8% | 8.8% | 87.5% | 4.27 | untouched |
| Replace defective wiring, broken lenses, or burned-out light bulbs. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.90 | untouched |
| Lubricate moving parts on gate-crossing mechanisms and swinging signals. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.54 | untouched |
| Clean lenses of lamps with cloths and solvents. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.53 | untouched |
Task text and importance ratings sourced from O*NET 31.0. Shares computed. The occupation score is the importance-weighted mean.
Occupations either side of this one
The four closest scores in the same occupational family, then the four closest anywhere in the index.
Read this carefully. Exposure is not displacement. A high score means current AI systems can produce this work, not that anyone will stop paying a person to do it. Adoption depends on economics, regulation and inertia that this index deliberately does not model. How the score is built.
What this means in practice
Most of this work is not reachable by current systems, so the immediate pressure is on the administrative edges of the role rather than its core: the scheduling, the reporting, the written records. That is where time is recovered.