SAN JOSE — Like a life-sized model railroad, Union Pacific has begun shuttling remote-control trains — including those carrying hazardous waste — around its San Jose and Oakland rail yards and the Caltrain main line, according to the Hayward (Calif.) Daily Review.
The technology has spurred a bitter fight between a union and U.P., both locally and nationally, over the safety of the system and the future of hundreds of engineers, whose jobs will become obsolete.
The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers complains the remote-control operators receive scant training — just over two weeks. In contrast, engineers train for a minimum of eight months and must receive federal certification.
They say, in essence, U.P. is replacing them with less-experienced, less-skilled and cheaper workers, which could spell disaster on the rails.
“Unless there’s a public outcry and this thing gets stopped, someone will get hurt,” said Bob Atchison, a Caltrain engineer.
“It’s unsettling when someone with two weeks of training is running a locomotive.”
Atchison, an Amtrak employee, objects to remote-control trains running on the same tracks as Caltrain. U.P. officials have done test runs between San Jose and Lawrence on the Caltrain tracks late at night.
U.P. officials say the remote-control technology actually improves safety and will save them money in the highly competitive shipping market by allowing the railroad to shrink its work force.
It plans to transfer nearly 30 Bay Area engineers to other sites or jobs as the remote-control technology gets up and running.
After deploying the system at its rail yards in the Midwest earlier this year, U.P. began using remote control at Oakland and San Jose in mid-August. A half-dozen other U.S. railroads are also installing the systems.
“If this were something completely new, there would be sympathy for the engineers’ position,” said Mike Furtney, a Western region spokesman for U.P.. “But remote technology has been used for two decades and has made rail yards in Canada safer.”
Remote-control trains have been in operation in Canada since 1989. In yards where the technology was employed, accidents fell 44 percent over the last four years, according to the American Association of Railroads.
And Federal Railroad Administration officials say the technology has performed flawlessly in the United States, where it has been in limited use for years.
“We have no reports of serious incidents regarding remote control,” said Warren Flatau, a spokesman for the administration.
Union officials dispute the administration’s claim.
They tie seven accidents in the United States to the use of remote-control technology, including one March crash in Indiana where an engineer leaped to safety just before a remote-control train struck his engine.
They said during the accident the remote-control train did not respond to its operator’s commands.
The FRA, which investigates rail accidents, did not have a record of the Indiana crash, Flatau said after conducting a cursory search.
The remote-control setup is familiar to hobbyists. An operator uses a portable control with a radio transmitter to send signals to the locomotive about speed and direction. A computer on board processes the commands.
The system has built-in safeguards. If the control box tilts at more than a 45-degree angle (in case an operator falls over) an alarm sounds and the train automatically stops. Likewise, if the transmitter loses contact with the engine, the train immediately grinds to a halt.
Furtney said U.P. plans to use the remote control trains in its rail yards, not intercity runs.
Caltrain officials said they will wait until they see how remote control performs before rendering a final verdict.
“We will be working with U.P. on how the technology will be implemented,” said Jayme Maltbie, a Caltrain spokeswoman. “But we always want to offer the safest possible service for our customers.”