(The Associated Press circulated the following article on April 11.)
POCATELLO — Train engineers are vanishing from the Union Pacific Railroad tracks in Pocatello.
It’s the first train yard in Idaho to use remote control operations.
Now just two employees use remote control to switch cars and make trains sometimes up to a half mile long.
All eleven switch jobs in the yard will soon be remote.
Members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen union say the technology makes yards less safe for workers.
But the Federal Railroad Administration offers statistics that show remote control trains reduce the number of accidents on train yards.
Members of the union question the statistics.
Shane Adams has 30 years of experience at the railroad. He says accidents are being reported as training accidents. So that makes the total look lower.