CLEVELAND, August 29 — An official with the Federal Railroad Administration today contacted the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers to state that the August 8, 2002, fatality of a UTU member at a steel mill in Cleveland was not the result of remote control operations.
On August 13, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that Harry M. Loew died after an accident at the former LTV Cleveland Works facility. According to the Plain Dealer, “Company officials said Loew was working as a train engineer and was lining up train cars to haul steel when he was pinned between two of the cars.”
The Plain Dealer story did not say whether or not remote control played a part in the accident. The UTU also published an obituary for Brother Loew on its website, and like the Plain Dealer report, did not state that remote control was involved.
But shortly after publication of the Plain Dealer article and the UTU obituary, an official with the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) contacted the BLE and stated that the locomotive involved was operated by a black box.
After hearing from the FRA this morning, the BLE immediately contacted the same USWA official. He stated that new information has come to light since August 27, and that he now has two differing accounts of the same accident. The initial report indicates that remote control was involved while the second report indicates that it was not.
In addition to FRA, management of the steel mill is now denying that remote control was in use at the time of the accident.
More information on this situation will be provided when available.