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Plant and machine operators, and assemblers · code 8312

Railway brake, signal and switch operators

Railway brakers, signallers and shunters take charge of and safeguard railway freight trains during runs, control the movement of railway traffic by operating signals, switch rolling stock and make up trains in railway yards, make up trains for hauling in mines and control their movement. Tasks include - (a) taking charge of and safeguarding freight train during runs; (b) controlling the flow of railway traffic over sections of line by operating signals and switches from control panels or signal boxes; (c) switching and coupling rolling stock in railway yards and sidings in accordance with orders about loading, unloading and make-up of trains; (d) making up trains for hauling by locomotive or cable and directing their movement along haulage ways in a mine or quarry; (e) checking train systems and equipment such as air-conditioning and heating systems, brakes and brake hoses prior to train run. Examples of the occupations classified here: - Braker (railway) - Shunter (railway) - Signaller (railway)

None of this job's tasks scored high enough to count. It ranks 106 of 427 for holding up against AI.

Also known as

  • shunter
  • train dispatcher
  • level crossing signalperson
  • rail switchperson
  • train preparer

Job titles from the EU's ESCO list. Search for any of them on the jobs page and you'll end up here.

82.5
Holds up
against AI Not Exposed

AI could take on 17.5 of 100, on average
so it holds up at 100 − 17.5 = 82.5

That's the whole sum, and you can check it against the ILO's study.

66.1
How hands-on
out of 100

From O*NET, averaged across 4 US jobs

39.1
How fiddly
and cramped

finger skill 35.7 · hand skill 37.8 · cramped spaces 43.8 · averaged

Kind of hands-on work · hands-on 50+ · fiddly under 39.4 Hands-on, less fiddly work

Less fine handwork and fewer cramped spaces than a typical hands-on job. That clears one hurdle for machines. It doesn't mean machines are doing this work yet.

estimated O*NET 31.0 BLS occupational crosswalk chain ISCO-08 to 2010 SOC (Aug 2012, rev. Jun 2015); 2010 to 2018 SOC (Nov 2017); O*NET-SOC 2019 taxonomy data 0.7-work-setting measures chosen by Frey & Osborne (2017) · the grouping is a sorting, not a measurement

This number is probably too high

This score only looks at AI tools like chatbots. It doesn't look at robots at all — and this job rates 66.1 out of 100 for how hands-on it is, which is exactly where robots come in.

Have a look at the tasks below and judge for yourself. The ILO scored them low because a chatbot can't do them. Whether a machine with hands could is a different question, and we can't answer it yet.

The tasks behind the score

The score is the average of these. A job is really a bundle of tasks, and an average can hide how uneven that bundle is.

The task AI could do most of scores 23.5, while the average is 17.5. A big gap means some of this job is wide open to AI and some of it barely at all. That's quite different from a job where everything sits somewhere in the middle, even when the averages match.

  1. 23.5

    Controlling flow of railway traffic over section of line by operating signals and switches from control panel or signal box

    Very Low
  2. 19

    Making up trains for hauling by locomotive or cable and directing their movement along haulage ways in a mine or quarry

    Very Low
  3. 16.5

    Switching and coupling rolling stock in railway yards and sidings in accordance with orders about loading, unloading and make-up of trains

    Very Low
  4. 15

    Taking charge of and safeguarding freight train during run

    Very Low
  5. 13.5

    Checking train systems and equipment such as air conditioning and heating systems, brakes and brake hoses prior to train run.

    Very Low

5 tasks · the High to Very Low labels are the ILO's

from the source Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs 2025 index data 0.7-work-setting

Helped, or replaced?

The score above can't tell a tool that makes you faster from one that does the task instead of you. Jobs and Skills Australia looked at those two things separately, and this is their result, matched to this job.

One Australian job matches, but only partly: not everyone in it does this job. Treat the numbers as a rough guide.

AI helps you
59
AI does it for you
33

Helping wins by 26 points.

estimated Our Gen AI Transition (Gen AI Capacity Study) September 2025 detailed data release data 0.7-work-setting matched to Australian jobs 7129

Compared with similar jobs

There are 39 jobs in the “Plant and machine operators, and assemblers” group, averaging 80.1. This one is above that.