LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and the union’s supporters rallied yesterday in opposition to the use of remote-control machinery to guide trains in and around rail yards, calling the devices a threat to public safety, the Louisville Courier-Journal reported.
The remote devices, which allow employees to direct an unmanned locomotive, are ”inherently unsafe in the way they operate,” said William Walpert, general secretary-treasurer of the Cleveland-based union, which has about 60,000 members nationwide.
If railway companies must use the remote-control units, they should be handled by engineers, Walpert said in an interview during the rally, held at the parking lot of United Auto Workers Local 862 on Grade Lane.
”We believe that the most qualified and federally certified and licensed person should be operating that locomotive,” he said, ”not someone with two weeks’ training.”
But CSX Transportation spokesman David Hall said the remote devices actually increase train safety, and that is ”the main reason for implementing it on our railroad.”
”While the technology is new to the U.S. railroads, it has been used in Canada for more than a decade, and the safety record on those Canadian railroads has shown that the rate of yard accidents and incidents is lower where remote control operations are in use,” Hall said.
He said remote operators receive 80 hours of training, and that the remote device ”dramatically reduces the potential for miscommunication from the employee on ground who is directing traffic and the employee on train,” who would otherwise be guiding the locomotive and its cars.
Behind the safety debate lies the issues of jobs for engineers and costs for the railway companies.
The remotes ”eliminate the engineer,” Walpert said. ”The person on the ground is now operating the locomotive . . . so they have actually eliminated a crew member.”
Safety remains the No. 1 concern, he said, but ”we are concerned, of course, about the loss of jobs.”
The railway company also concedes that ”there certainly are economic benefits” to the remote technology. ”We feel that CSX and the rail industry must take advantage of advances in technology to be competitive,” Hall said.
CSX Transportation is the largest rail company in Louisville, and in May its Osborn Yard became one of the first in the nation to begin using the remote-control equipment. About 40 rail terminals are equipped so far in what is a pilot program, Hall said. About 85 of CSX’s 3,000 locomotives are equipped for remote control, each at a cost of $80,000 to $100,000.
CSX Transportation employs about 600 workers in Louisville. The union local has 250 to 300 members, representing employees at CSX, Norfolk Southern Railway and other rail lines.
The remotes are typically used for operations within the rail yard, where a worker stands on the ground and guides the train using a shoebox-sized device called a belt pack. A worker on the train also can run the locomotive outside the yard through the belt pack.
In Louisville, such trips are limited to nearby industrial sites, such as the Ford Motor Co. plant on Fern Valley Road, Hall said. But in other locations, trains can be guided by remote control down 20 to 30 miles of track, according to Walpert.
”They are running down the track with no engineer on board,” he said.
Tony Wofford, local chairman for Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers Division 78, said there have been ”quite a few” accidents in Louisville involving trains under remote control, including numerous sideswipes and an instance when a remote-control crew lost contact with an engine and left it blocking Grade Lane for 20 minutes, impeding a firetruck’s access to a burning automobile.
Hall said the remote technology itself has caused no problems. ”Human-factor” problems have prompted officials to review procedures and in some cases make changes to prevent similar instances, he said.
He also said that remotely operated trains are limited to 15 mph and are working safely. ”We feel that we have a well-trained work force operating the technology,” he said.