NOC 2021 · 74200 · TEER 4
Railway yard and track maintenance workers
Unit group 74200 of the National Occupational Classification, 2021 Version 1.0.
Check which category draws this code qualifies for
What this group covers
Railway yard workers regulate yard traffic, couple and uncouple trains and perform related yard activities. Railway track maintenance workers operate machines and equipment to lay, maintain and repair railway tracks. They are employed by railway transport companies.
Example job titles
As Statistics Canada publishes them. Yours may be worded differently and still belong here.
- aligner-tamper operator - railway
- anchor-applicator operator - railway
- automatic anchor-applicator operator - railway
- ballast regulator operator - railway
- ballast-equalizer operator - railway
- ballast-leveller operator - railway
- car controller - railway
- car retarder operator - railway yard
- control tower operator - railway
- coupler - railway yard
- fitter tracks - railway
- freight car distributor - railway yard
- gandy dancer - railway
- interlocking cabin switcher - railway yard
- interlocking signal box switcher - railway yard
- journal box greaser - railway yard
- lag bolter operator - railway
- locomotive attendant - railway yard
- locomotive distributor - railway yard
- locomotive engine servicer
- locomotive maintenance attendant
- locomotive servicer
- machine operator - railway
- maintenance of way employee - railway
- maintenance of way inspector - railway
- mechanical tamper operator - railway
- motor vehicle operator - pole yard
- rail grinder - railway
- rail sander
- rail saw operator
- rail saw operator - railway
- rail-aligner operator - railway
- rail-grinder operator - railway
- rail-lifter operator - railway
- railway car controller - railway yard
- railway car distributor
- railway car greaser
- railway car lubricating specialist
- railway car lubricator
- railway car oiler
- railway equipment operator
- railway line inspector
- railway maintenance equipment operator
- railway signalman/woman
- railway tank car servicer
- railway tie inspector
- railway track inspector
- railway track maintenance equipment operator
- railway track maintenance worker
- railway track patroller
- railway track repairer
- railway track tamper operator
- railway trackman/woman
- railway train engine maintenance worker
- railway-tie-injector operator
- retarder operator - railway yard
- section worker - railway
- signal tower operator - railway
- signalman/woman - railway transport
- snowblower operator - railway
- spike machine operator - railway
- spike puller machine operator - railway
- spike-driver operator - railway
- spiker operator - railway
- spiking machine operator - railway
- switch tender - railway yard
- switcher - railway yard
- switching station switcher - railway yard
- switchman/woman - railway
- tamper operator - railway
- tamper-aligner operator - railway
- tamping machine operator - railway
- tank car controller - railway yard
- tie axe unit operator - railway
- tie crane operator - railway
- tie plate jack operator - railway
- tie saw operator - railway
- tie shear operator - railway
- tie tamper operator - railway
- tie-bed-scarifier operator - railway
- tie-cutter operator - railway
- tie-cutting machine operator - railway
- tie-end-remover operator - railway
- tie-injector operator - railway
- tie-placer operator - railway
- tie-plate-placer operator - railway
- tower operator - railway transport
- towerman/woman - railway transport
- track broom machine operator - railway
- track dresser - railway
- track fitter - railway
- track layer - railway
- track maintenance worker - railway
- track repairman/woman - railway
- track tamper - railway
- track-liner operator - railway
- track-maintenance-machine operator - railway
- trackman/woman - railway yard
- trackmobile operator - railway
- track-surfacing machine operator - railway
- trackwalker - railway
- trainman/woman - railway yard
- transfer table operator - railway yard
- turntable operator - railway yard
- yard coupler - railway
- yard switchman/woman - railway transport
- yard trainman/woman
- yard worker - railway
- yardman/woman - railway
What it pays, and where it is hiring
Job Bank publishes a wage estimate and a three-year employment outlook for each occupation, region by region. Both are below as published — where an estimate is missing from the source it is missing here too, because the alternative is inventing one.
Across Canada
$36.00 an hour
Low $26.00, high $42.00
Where it pays most
- Bas-Saint-Laurent · Quebec$39.17
- Wood Buffalo--Cold Lake · Alberta$38.38
- Northwest · Ontario$38.00
- Saguenay--Lac-Saint-Jean · Quebec$37.15
- Toronto · Ontario$37.00
Economic regions only. A province’s figure is an average over the regions inside it, so including one would rank a province above its own best region and read as a finding.
By province and territory
| Where | Median hourly | Low to high | Outlook 2025–2027 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Newfoundland and Labrador | $40.57 | $29.27 – $50.98 | Undetermined |
| Prince Edward Island | Not published | Not published | Undetermined |
| Nova Scotia | $28.35 | $20.61 – $41.07 | Undetermined |
| New Brunswick | $34.00 | $27.88 – $42.00 | Limited |
| Quebec | $38.50 | $33.30 – $40.00 | Very limited |
| Ontario | $37.00 | $28.85 – $40.00 | Moderate |
| Manitoba | $35.00 | $23.90 – $41.00 | Very limited |
| Saskatchewan | $34.19 | $26.52 – $44.41 | Good |
| Alberta | $35.64 | $26.82 – $45.52 | Very limited |
| British Columbia | $33.00 | $25.00 – $43.00 | Limited |
| Yukon Territory | Not published | Not published | Undetermined |
| Northwest Territories | Not published | Not published | Undetermined |
| Nunavut | Not published | Not published | Undetermined |
By economic region
The 42 economic regions where Job Bank publishes a wage or a rated outlook, of 72.
| Where | Province | Median hourly | Low to high | Outlook 2025–2027 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Moncton--Richibucto | New Brunswick | Not published | Not published | Moderate |
| Saint John--St. Stephen | New Brunswick | Not published | Not published | Moderate |
| Fredericton--Oromocto | New Brunswick | Not published | Not published | Moderate |
| Bas-Saint-Laurent | Quebec | $39.17 | $29.26 – $49.83 | Undetermined |
| Capitale-Nationale | Quebec | $33.61 | $25.80 – $39.87 | Undetermined |
| Chaudière-Appalaches | Quebec | $36.37 | $29.65 – $43.88 | Undetermined |
| Montérégie | Quebec | $34.52 | $26.32 – $39.89 | Limited |
| Montréal | Quebec | $36.06 | $27.21 – $41.98 | Limited |
| Laval | Quebec | Not published | Not published | Limited |
| Lanaudière | Quebec | $35.72 | $26.95 – $40.46 | Undetermined |
| Laurentides | Quebec | $34.11 | $25.13 – $37.68 | Undetermined |
| Outaouais | Quebec | $35.68 | $28.01 – $40.76 | Undetermined |
| Mauricie | Quebec | $36.34 | $28.72 – $43.22 | Very limited |
| Saguenay--Lac-Saint-Jean | Quebec | $37.15 | $32.04 – $46.56 | Undetermined |
| Ottawa | Ontario | $35.27 | $27.56 – $51.66 | Moderate |
| Kingston--Pembroke | Ontario | $35.94 | $29.13 – $45.19 | Moderate |
| Muskoka--Kawarthas | Ontario | $35.18 | $28.76 – $43.55 | Undetermined |
| Toronto | Ontario | $37.00 | $29.94 – $40.00 | Moderate |
| Kitchener--Waterloo--Barrie | Ontario | $35.47 | $28.12 – $44.15 | Moderate |
| Hamilton--Niagara Peninsula | Ontario | Not published | Not published | Moderate |
| London | Ontario | Not published | Not published | Good |
| Windsor--Sarnia | Ontario | Not published | Not published | Moderate |
| Northeast | Ontario | $35.09 | $24.04 – $40.00 | Moderate |
| Northwest | Ontario | $38.00 | $32.00 – $38.65 | Moderate |
| Southeast | Manitoba | $35.10 | $26.72 – $44.46 | Very limited |
| Southwest | Manitoba | $35.00 | $26.00 – $40.33 | Limited |
| Winnipeg | Manitoba | $35.00 | $23.00 – $40.44 | Very limited |
| Interlake | Manitoba | Not published | Not published | Moderate |
| Regina--Moose Mountain | Saskatchewan | $34.09 | $28.64 – $42.28 | Undetermined |
| Swift Current--Moose Jaw | Saskatchewan | $34.50 | $28.04 – $42.43 | Good |
| Saskatoon--Biggar | Saskatchewan | $36.72 | $28.54 – $47.17 | Undetermined |
| Yorkton--Melville | Saskatchewan | $36.71 | $27.44 – $50.00 | Good |
| Prince Albert | Saskatchewan | $34.59 | $28.50 – $42.10 | Undetermined |
| Lethbridge--Medicine Hat | Alberta | $34.46 | $27.57 – $39.30 | Undetermined |
| Camrose--Drumheller | Alberta | $36.58 | $29.14 – $45.98 | Undetermined |
| Calgary | Alberta | $36.51 | $28.61 – $44.94 | Undetermined |
| Banff--Jasper--Rocky Mountain House | Alberta | $34.47 | $28.49 – $40.48 | Undetermined |
| Edmonton | Alberta | $35.68 | $26.97 – $44.15 | Very limited |
| Wood Buffalo--Cold Lake | Alberta | $38.38 | $28.80 – $50.10 | Undetermined |
| Lower Mainland | British Columbia | $33.00 | $25.00 – $47.00 | Limited |
| Thompson--Okanagan | British Columbia | $33.00 | $25.00 – $43.00 | Limited |
| Cariboo | British Columbia | Not published | Not published | Moderate |
Job Bank rates employment prospects for each occupation in each economic region from very good to very limited over 2025–2027, and says “undetermined” where it has not got enough to rate. It is an assessment of prospects, not a count of vacancies.
The estimates on this page come from Labour Force Survey (2023-2024) · Small Area Estimation (2024).
Job Bank publishes an estimate for 24,364 of the 44,376 occupation-and-place pairs in this release. The rest are suppressed rather than modelled, and appear here as not published.
Wage estimates from the 2025 Wages release, revised 19 November 2025; employment outlooks from 2025-2027 Employment Outlooks - NOC 2021, released 8 December 2025. Both are updated annually. Estimates for different regions come from different surveys, so comparing two regions is exactly as sound as Job Bank’s own regional comparison and no more.
Source: Statistics Canada — National Occupational Classification 2021 V1.0; Employment and Social Development Canada — Job Bank wages; Employment and Social Development Canada — Job Bank 3-year employment outlooks. Data current as of 13 August 2026. NOC 2021 Version 1.0. The classification is versioned rather than dated — IRCC moved to it in November 2022, and a new version would be a new classification rather than an update.