(The LaCrosse Tribune posted the following article by Joan Kent on its website on June 13.)
LaCROSSE, Wisc. — A Burlington Northern Santa Fe engine operated by remote control collided in the La Crosse railroad yard on Oak Street on Wednesday with a BNSF engine preparing for a local run.
No one was injured in the accident that occurred at about 10 p.m., said Steve Forsberg, general director, public affairs corporate relations.
The steps used to climb aboard both engines were damaged in the collision, he said.
An engineer was in the engine, which was stationary before backing to attach to a train to go to Prairie du Chien, Forsberg said. The switch engine, operated by remote control, was pulling 11 cars south, he said.
The cause of the accident was confusion in the communication between the yardmaster and the crews of the two engines, Forsberg said. Both crews thought they had the go-ahead to go on to the same track, he said.
“The yardmaster failed to communicate to the people operating the switch engine that they were supposed to stop.”
The switch engine crewmen on the ground applied the brakes by using their remote controls when they saw the engines were going to collide, but were unable to stop before the impact, he said.
The accident will not cause the railroad to consider stopping the use of remotes in the La Crosse yard, Forsberg said. Over a four-year period, there were between 10 and 12 similar accidents in the yard, when both engines were manned by engineers, he said. “This is the kind of accident that (remote technology) is helping to reduce. We have seen a 42 percent reduction in the yards since using the remotes.”
But James Kinsman, member of the Locomotive Engineers, said the incident illustrates the union’s safety concerns. Railroad representatives said remote controls are safer because they take the third person, the engineer in the engine, “out of the equation,” he said. “If there had been an engineer, the accident probably could have been averted.”