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Rail Transportation: NAICS 482

About the Rail Transportation subsector

The rail transportation subsector is part of the transportation and warehousing sector.

Industries in the Rail Transportation subsector provide rail transportation of passengers and/or cargo using railroad rolling stock. The railroads in this subsector primarily either operate on networks, with physical facilities, labor force, and equipment spread over an extensive geographic area, or operate over a short distance on a local rail line.

North American Industry Classification System

The rail transportation subsector consists of a single industry group, Rail Transportation: NAICS 4821.

Workforce Statistics

This section provides information relating to employment in rail transportation. These data are obtained from employer or establishment surveys. The following tables present an overview of the industry including the number of jobs, data for occupations common to the industry, and projections of occupational employment change.

Employment


Data series	Aug. 2024	Sep. 2024	Oct. 2024	Nov. 2024
Employment (in thousands)
Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)	150.5	149.8	(p)150.0	(p)150.0
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Employment by Occupation


Data series	Employment, 2023
Locomotive engineers	31,040
Rail car repairers	9,320
Rail-track laying and maintenance equipment operators	9,280
Railroad brake, signal, and switch operators	11,640
Railroad conductors and yardmasters	36,400

(Source: Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics)

Projections

For projected (future) employment estimates, see the National Employment Matrix, which includes employment estimates by industry and occupation for rail transportation.

(Source: Office of Occupational Statistics and Employment Projections)

Earnings

Recent hourly and annual earnings for occupations commonly found in rail transportation.

Earnings by Occupation


Data series	Wages, 2023
	Hourly		Annual
	Median	Mean	Median	Mean
Locomotive engineers	35.95	36.76	74,770	76,470
Rail car repairers	34.45	33.11	71,660	68,870
Rail-track laying and maintenance equipment operators	31.78	31.53	66,100	65,590
Railroad brake, signal, and switch operators	30.69	30.39	63,840	63,210
Railroad conductors and yardmasters	32.42	35.20	67,430	73,220

(Source: Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics)

Work-related Fatalities, Injuries, and Illnesses

This section presents data for the industry on the number of workplace fatalities and the rates of workplace injuries and illnesses per 100 full-time workers in rail transportation. An injury or illness is considered to be work-related if an event or exposure in the work environment either caused or contributed to the resulting condition or significantly aggravated a pre-existing condition.


Data series	2019	2021	2022
Fatalities
Number of fatalities	11	13	8
Blank cells indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria.


Data series	2023
Rate of injury and illness cases per 100 full-time workers
Total recordable cases	2.0
Cases involving days away from work, job restriction, or transfer	1.4
Cases involving days away from work	1.3
Cases involving days of job transfer or restriction	0.1
Blank cells indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria.

(Source: Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities)

Prices

This section provides industry-specific pricing information. The producer price index measures the percentage change in prices that domestic producers receive for goods and services. The prices included in the producer price index are from the first commercial transaction.


Data series	Jul. 2024	Aug. 2024	Sep. 2024	Oct. 2024
Producer price index	(p)237.160	(p)236.999	(p)237.666	(p)237.391
Percent change from previous month	(p)0.6%	(p)-0.1%	(p)0.3%	(p)-0.1%
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Producer Price Indexes)

Workplace Trends

This section presents data on the number of establishments in rail transportation.

Establishments


Data series	3rd quarter 2023	4th quarter 2023	1st quarter 2024	2nd quarter 2024
Number of establishments
Private industry	163	170	(p)172	(p)171
Local government
State government	2	2	(p)2	(p)2
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages)

Productivity

This section presents productivity and related data for the industry, presented as the percent change from the previous year. Measures of total factor productivity (TFP) compare growth in output to the growth in a combination of inputs that include labor, capital, energy, materials, and services. Measures of labor productivity, or output per hour, compare the growth in output to the growth in hours worked.


Data series	2020	2021	2022	2023
Total factor productivity (TFP)	-2.7	5.7	2.7	-3.5
Output	-13.0	7.8	4.6	-5.7
Combined inputs	-10.6	2.0	1.9	-2.2
Capital input	0.1	-0.1	0.5	0.4
Labor input	-13.5	-4.4	3.0	3.3
Labor productivity, output per hour	1.6	12.5	1.6	-8.8

(Source: Productivity)

Data extracted on: December 11, 2024