(The Idaho Press-Tribune published the following story by Lane Bettencourt on its website on July 23.)
NAMPA, Idaho — Locomotives will soon be switched by remote control at Nampa’s Union Pacific Railroad yard, a high-tech change that causes some employees concern.
It’s a departure from the practice of having an engineer operate the locomotive while talking on a radio with a switchman.
But sometime after the first of the year, a train operator will wear a computerized belt pack to move locomotives around by using a control panel. No engineer is needed in the locomotive’s cab.
By remote control, the locomotive can be directed to move forward or backward at an exact speed, or blow its horn. Since the operator is free to walk along the tracks, he can see when a locomotive is successfully coupled with train cars.
Union Pacific officials say safety is improved.
“This eliminates the opportunity for miscommunication,” railroad spokesman John Bromley said. “This will also allow us to better utilize our workforce. We have a shortage of engineers on some routes and this allows us to operate without hiring new people.”
But railroad union members — past and present — are leery of handling the huge machines by remote control.
John Bentley, a spokesman with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, said his organization has safety concerns about how remote control has been implemented.
“One of the main problems we have with it is lack of federal oversight,” Bentley said. “The traditional switching operation was highly regulated. It’s almost a double standard.”
Fred Hallberg of Nampa, a retired 40-year employee of Union Pacific, is also skeptical.
“It’s much more reliable when you have humans,” he said.
But Bromley said in rail terminals where remote control is already in operation, the accident rate has dropped by 30 percent.
“It’s not a situation where the locomotive ever goes out of sight,” he said.
Very few jobs have been lost as a result of the change, Bromley said. Employees who performed switching duties have been moved to other jobs on the rail line.
Main railroad routes — such as between Nampa and Portland — will continue to have full crews.