Industry group, 4882
Support Activities for Rail Transportation
42,340 people work in this industry in the US, at mean pay of $62,250 a year (BLS, May 2025). What follows is how much of their working time the best AI models could finish, when, and in which jobs and tasks. Estimates.
of the paid hours. Estimate.
a year: 13 million hours at what they cost. Not a forecast of savings.
- 23%
- 7%
- 70%
of the paid hours are within reach now in tasks people already bring to Claude. Another 14% is within reach in tasks not yet seen there.
Across the US: 22% within reach now and 37% by the end of 2028, on the long-run pace at four in five.
Share of the paid hours within reach, now to 2030
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this industry's paid hours were within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 1%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 14%. Today's estimate: 15%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
Where the hours are
Jobs by hours within reach now. The 40 largest jobs hold 90% of the people.
| People | Pay here | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loaders | 2,190 | 20% | 892,820 | $61K |
| Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand | 4,640 | 9% | 868,608 | $43K |
| First-Line Supervisors of Mechanics, Installers, and Repairers | 1,400 | 27% | 774,595 | $76K |
| General and Operations Managers | 1,400 | 23% | 663,940 | $99K |
| Railroad Conductors and Yardmasters | 990 | 32% | 661,003 | $48K |
| First-Line Supervisors of Material-Moving Machine and Vehicle Operators | 593 | 51% | 626,588 | $68K |
| First-Line Supervisors of Helpers, Laborers, and Material Movers, Hand | 593 | 44% | 542,714 | $68K |
| Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers | 1,610 | 14% | 458,786 | $51K |
| First-Line Supervisors of Passenger Attendants | 593 | 37% | 452,674 | $68K |
| Transportation Inspectors | 730 | 30% | 452,483 | $62K |
| Office Clerks, General | 380 | 54% | 429,187 | $46K |
| Customer Service Representatives | 290 | 64% | 388,461 | $46K |
People: BLS counts for this industry, May 2025. Pay here: the median paid for the job in this industry, else its mean, else the national median. 64 smaller jobs (4,200 people) count in every total but are not listed. Task data covers 96% of the industry's people; the rest are in BLS "all other" groups with no task list, or in counts BLS does not publish.
The tasks with the most hours within reach by the end of 2028
Across the whole industry, on the chosen pace and reliability.
- Monitor product movement to and from storage tanks, coordinating activities with other workers to ensure constant product flow.Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loaders691,753 hours100% of the task within reach
- Record numbers of units handled or moved, using daily production sheets or work tickets.Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand646,244 hours100% of the task within reach
- Develop or implement electronic maintenance programs or computer information management systems.First-Line Supervisors of Mechanics, Installers, and Repairers450,587 hours96% of the task within reach
- Record conditions of cars, and repair and maintenance work performed or to be performed.Rail Car Repairers339,578 hours100% of the task within reach
- Record operating data such as products and quantities pumped, gauge readings, and operating times, manually or using computers.Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loaders232,406 hours100% of the task within reach
- Recommend and implement measures to improve worker motivation, work methods, or customer services.First-Line Supervisors of Passenger Attendants230,900 hours100% of the task within reach
- Participate in budget preparation and administration, coordinating purchasing and documentation and monitoring departmental expenditures.First-Line Supervisors of Mechanics, Installers, and Repairers219,325 hours100% of the task within reach
- Read work orders or receive oral instructions to determine work assignments or material or equipment needs.Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand218,648 hours50% of the task within reach
- Review schedules, switching orders, way bills, and shipping records to obtain cargo loading and unloading information and to plan work.Railroad Conductors and Yardmasters205,220 hours100% of the task within reach
- Direct and coordinate activities of businesses or departments concerned with the production, pricing, sales, or distribution of products.General and Operations Managers179,017 hours40% of the task within reach
Scan a typical company in this industry
The industry's largest jobs, in the proportions BLS counts across the whole industry, at the pay it pays, run through the company scan. A starting point before you have a roster, or a benchmark for the one you have.
Next to this industry
Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Support Activities for Air Transportation272,420 people21% now, 29% by 2028
- Freight Transportation Arrangement251,630 people37% now, 55% by 2028
- Support Activities for Road Transportation114,040 people23% now, 29% by 2028
- Support Activities for Water Transportation94,920 people18% now, 29% by 2028
- Other Support Activities for Transportation37,610 people24% now, 32% by 2028
How it is built: BLS counts the people in each job in this industry; each job's tasks and their lengths give its share within reach at a date; the industry's share is those shares weighted by people. Value is pay times 1.43 for benefits and payroll costs. Seen in Claude use splits today's share by whether Anthropic saw people bring each task to Claude in 2025; other AI tools are not counted. How it works