(The following article by Cathy McKitrick was posted on the Ogden Standard-Examiner website on August 19. Chris Gallagher is local chairman of BLE Division 374 in Ogden, Utah.)
OGDEN, Utah — To date, officials in 24 cities and 10 counties across America have passed resolutions to either prohibit the use of remote control operations in train yards or to ask for more federal control over their use.
Ogden could be next.
Chris Gallagher, a local Union Pacific engineer and also a member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, will speak to the Ogden City Council tonight about safety concerns he shares with others across the country.
“Basically they”re taking the engineer out of the cab,” Gallagher said. “I feel it”s a safety issue. It”s all done by remote control on the ground. Some accidents could be prevented with an engineer in the cab.”
In 2002, railroad companies across the country began implementing remote control operations (RCOs) in their yards as pilot projects. Ogden”s railyards are slated to come on board with RCOs in November of this year.
Union members are urging the Federal Railroad Administration to put some teeth in its oversight of remote control operations.
“My biggest concern is the lack of federal safety regulations that can be enforced. Right now there are none — all they have are guidelines or recommendations,” said John Bentley, a Cleveland, Ohio spokesman with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers.
But railroad officials maintain that remote control operations actually increase safety.
“We”re implementing remote control operations for two reasons,” said John Bromley, an Omaha, Neb., spokesman for Union Pacific. “First, it makes more productive use of our manpower by freeing up locomotive engineers to operate our trains that run between cities, where we”ve had a shortage.”
“Second, it eliminates the chance of miscommunication between the switchman and engineer,” Bromley said.
But some see less manpower in the
railyard as a liability.
“A set of eyes and ears has been removed from the railyard,” Bentley said. “All the responsibilities of the engineer are given to the remote control operator, who has much less training. They”re trying to get more work done with fewer people.”
Locomotive engineers go through six to eight months of training to take command of their 200-ton engines. Switchmen receive 88 hours of training to become remote control operators, and Union Pacific has certified more than 2,000 in that capacity so far.
“From Provo to Ogden, there”s 54 jobs they want to remote control. That”s 54 engineers who will be displaced,” Gallagher said.
Engineers with seniority will most likely be transferred to other jobs with the railroad, but the trickle-down effect will cause lower level employees to be furloughed, Bentley said.
Since remote control operations began in the United States, there have been at least 60 train accidents where remote control was involved. At least one involved a hazardous material spill.
But Bromley said Union Pacific”s accident rate has actually dropped by one-third. “Canada has used this for 10 years and they”ve cut their accident rate by one-half,” he said.
Gallagher, concerned about safety in the railyards and the community, hopes to raise awareness about pending remote control operations in Ogden.
“We want to send a message to the railroad and the FRA, saying implement RCOs in a better way,” Gallagher said. “Talk with your communities first before you do something that could affect them.”