(The following article by Dean Brickey was posted on the East Oregonian website on October 30.)
HERMISTON, Ore. — The city has put up a roadblock to Union Pacific Railroad’s idea of operating trains through town by remote control.
Ray Jones, assistant city manager, said city staff sprung to action after receiving a call from Dan Olsen, manager of yard operations at Hinkle. Jones said Olsen told him the railroad was “looking at the possibility” of remote control operations through the city.
Mark Davis, a Union Pacific spokesman in Omaha, said the railroad is working on a feasibility study about operating remote control locomotives in a wider area.
“It hasn’t been something that has been a lock,” Davis said.
Jones and his boss, City Manager Ed Brookshier, explained the city’s concerns.
“We’re certainly not in favor of it,” Jones said, adding the trains passing through Hermiston carry hazardous materials, such as propane and ammonia.
Brookshier said it’s inappropriate for the railroad to send remote control locomotives through an area where there is heavy traffic.
“The issue is safety,” he said.
Soon after Jones received the phone call from Olsen, Brookshier fired off a letter to Greg Rosales, director of terminal operations at Hinkle.
“Let me state in the strongest of terms that the City of Hermiston is absolutely opposed to this suggestion,” Brookshier wrote. “We feel that an engineer needs to always be in the cab and in control of any train and especially one that frequently carries hazardous materials through our community.”
Davis said railroads have been operating locomotives by remote control for nearly 12 years.
“It originally was tested and implemented on Canadian railroads,” he said. “The technology is used strictly in rail yards and on industry track, such as in a produce rail yard.”
Phil Houk, the railroad’s regional risk management specialist, said the remote control locomotives have two employees aboard, but neither is an engineer.
Davis said remote control locomotives are controlled by a person with a radio transmitter. He compared it to flying a radio-controlled airplane.
“You still have a person who is in control,” he said.
The remote control operator must follow normal railroad rules and regulations, plus additional rules and regulations for remote operations.
Last April, a remote control locomotive leaving the Hinkle yard sideswiped a coal trail off Feedville Road near Lamb Weston. The accident derailed two loaded coal cars, 13 empty cars and the locomotive. The wreck damaged about 300 feet of track and closed the Union Pacific main line for about half a day.