CLEVELAND, December 17 — The AFL-CIO State Federation in Illinois has unanimously enacted a remote control safety resolution that seeks to prohibit the operation of remote control trains in the state until enforceable federal safety regulations are enacted.
The measure came at the urging of BLE State Legislative Board Chairman C. Edward Way and is based on similar resolutions adopted by the Missouri and Michigan State Federations.
The resolution asks the state of Illinois to prohibit the use of remote control technology in rail switching operations until a risk assessment study is published by a neutral third party. It also asks that remote control be banned in the state until the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) issues enforceable federal regulations. To date, the FRA has only issued recommended guidelines but no enforceable regulations.
Brother Way thanked Margaret Blackshere, President of the Illinois AFL-CIO, and Michael Carrigan, Secretary-Treasurer of the Federation, for their efforts in supporting the safety resolution.
The Illinois AFL-CIO is the 11th state federation to enact a remote control safety resolution. The other 10 state feds are: Arizona, Texas, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska, Wisconsin and Georgia.
A copy of the resolution is available here as a PDF:
http://www.ble.org/pr/pdf/IllinoisAFLCIOResolution.pdf