MILWAUKEE, Wisc. — CSX officials yesterday told Trains.com that it will apologize to the BLE for the removal of an anti-remote control billboard that BLE Division 532 placed overlooking the railroad’s Acca Yard in Richmond, Va.
CSX says it should not have asked to have the advertisement removed and will apologize to the union. “We clearly made a mistake,” said CSX spokeswoman Kathy Burns.
Last month, BLE Division 532 paid nearly $1,000 to lease the billboard for a month. It read: “Remote control trains? No engineer in the cab? Stop the madness! Call your Congressman today! Stop paying dues to a union that eliminates jobs! Join BLE Division 532 today!”
The billboard was situated outside the control tower window and in plain view of the local trainmaster and yardmaster, the BLE said. But the BLE’s message disappeared after two weeks, replaced by a military recruitment ad.
The union said CSX – which has purchased the most remote-control units of any American Class 1 so far — asked Lamar Outdoor Advertising to remove the BLE advertisement.
Notification about the billboard went to CSX’s real estate subsidiary, Burns said. Real estate personnel told Lamar Outdoor that the billboard message was offensive, and asked for it to be removed, she said.
“That action was not cleared through the appropriate internal CSX channels,” Burns said. “We don’t agree with the content of the billboard, but as a matter of policy we respect the rights of others to have differing views on issues.”
CSX will contact the BLE local chairman to apologize, Burns said, and will notify him and Lamar Outdoor that the railroad would not object if the union wishes to have the billboard message reappear.
The advertising company refunded half of the union’s billboard payment after running the ad for just two weeks, the BLE said.
BLE spokesman John Bentley said local chairman Ed Mellott could not be reached for comment today.
“The BLE International Division commends Ed Mellott and the members of BLE Division 532 for standing up to CSX and making their voices heard on the issue of remote control,” Bentley said. “It took a lot of guts to do what they did.”
The BLE has been protesting the implementation of locomotive remote control on the U.S. Class 1s, and says that the technology has bumped 60 engineers from their yard jobs. It has filed lawsuits against the Federal Railroad Administration, the Department of Transportation, and Union Pacific, seeking to have remote control operation shelved.
An account executive from Lamar Outdoor did not return a phone call to Trains.com seeking comment.