BATON ROUGE, La. — Train cars in the Foss Street train yard near Memorial stadium are run by remote control. And in the past seven months, there have been two derailments, causing concern for local residents, according to television station WBRZ in Louisiana.
Remote control operations were implemented in the U.S. in January. Ever since then, many railroad engineers have been concerned about the safety of the operations. Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers member Rodney Stutes says a whole crew is replaced when the remote control system is installed. He blames that for a derailment on August 10th.
“Because that individual was shoving and shoving blind with that remote control, that was the singular cause of that incident,” says Stutes. “Had there been a person on the end of it, that would not have been the case.”
Luckily the tank car was empty, but it was enough for the East Baton Rouge Metro Council to take action. They passed a resolution banning the remote controls until the Federal Railroad Administration develops comprehensive regulations for systems.
The resolution states, “Remote control locomotives cannot be used to transport or switch cars containing hazardous materials.”
But hazardous materials are transported through the Baton Rouge train yard every day. And while union members say it’s a disaster waiting to happen, railroad officials maintain that this is the safest form of operation.
Kansas City Southern says in a news release, “Remote control eliminates communication failures and visibility problems that can occur in conventional switching with an engineer in the locomotive’s cab.”
KCS officials also believe employees are just angry about losing positions. But since remote control was implemented in January, there have been at least 12 derailments nation-wide.
“All the railroads for the most part are just blatently throwing this technology out there without due consideration of the safety of the community,” says Stutes.
Stutes says he’ll still have a job no matter what. He just wants it to be a safe one.