(The following story by Tom Cherveny was published in the January 13 issue of the West Central Tribune.)
WILLMAR, Minn. — Locomotives will be rolling through the rail yard and across three roadways in Willmar without engineers at their controls in the cabins.
Workers on the ground with controls strapped to their waists will direct the engines by radio signal instead.
It’s known as portable locomotive control technology, and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad plans to implement it in its Willmar yard beginning this June, said Gus Melonas, a spokesman for the railroad.
It will be used only on switching engines in the yard, but they often cross Seventh and 10th streets on the west side of town, and Lakeland Drive on the east.
Melonas said there is no need to worry: The system will enhance safety.
Locomotive engineers here are concerned about what they call remote-controlled trains, and believe the public should be too. “We think that the safest and most efficient method of operating a locomotive is from the cabin of the engine,” said Lynn Rice, who represents the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, Division 549.
The engineers charge that the technology takes the most highly trained and qualified person to operate a train out of the cab, and replaces him or her with someone with less training. An operator on the ground will be more vulnerable to difficulties created by inclement weather than someone in a protected cab.
The engineers are also concerned that no matter how well trained, someone on the ground just doesn’t have the visual advantage and important “feel” for the situation as someone aboard the engine.
“Anybody who operates heavy equipment would understand that,” said Rice.
The three yard crossings in Willmar are all protected by automatic gates and signals, but that doesn’t prevent some motorists and even pedestrians from trying to beat the trains, according to engineers. “We see it practically every day,” said Rice.
One engineer, who asked not to be identified, derided the new technology as “playing real-life Nintendo with trains.”
The safety concerns are misplaced, according to the railroad’s spokesman. The BNSF is implementing the technology to “enhance safety and efficiency,” according to Melonas. Operators will be fully trained to operate the system, and the system already has a proven safety record.
Rail yard accidents have been reduced by 70 percent in Canada, where the technology has been in use for several years, he said.
There has not been one major incident as a result of the technology since its introduction in the U.S. one year ago, he added.
BNSF first introduced the system in its Mandan, N.D., yard and more recently, the Dilworth-Fargo terminal.
Locomotive engineers are concerned about what the technology will mean for their jobs. Currently, moving cars in the rail yard is a three-person operation. There’s an engineer in the locomotive, and a switchman and switchman foreman on the ground.
Come June, there will be two switchmen on the ground, one with the control package.
In Willmar, the person with the control package will likely be someone who is currently a locomotive engineer. They have the contract rights to bump switchmen for the job.
The engineers union filed a lawsuit last year charging that the implementation of the technology violates its contracts with the railroads, according to John Bentley, spokesman for the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. An arbitrator ruled in favor of the railroads on Friday.
The United Transportation Union, which represents switchmen and railroads, reached an agreement one year ago. It allows the controls for the portable locomotive control technology to be turned over to switchmen and their supervisors.Melonas said the implementation of the new technology has not meant the loss of railroad jobs.
“There has been no employment loss because of the technology,” he said.It has meant changes in assignments as locomotive engineers exercise their contract rights and take over jobs in the yard.Bentley said he believes the inevitable result of the new technology will be fewer railroad jobs.
The union representative said that workers don’t believe that the system is more efficient. The railroad’s efficiency comes “because they are paying fewer people to do the work,” he said.The union representative said there has not been a thorough set of statistics assembled
on the safety issues involving the new technology. He said the reduction in accidents claimed by the railroad reflects the fact that there are fewer workers in the yards where the systems are used.
He added that some communities have been concerned enough about the safety issues to adopt ordinances limiting the use of the technology and asking the Federal Railroad Administration to adopt regulations for its use.
Rice said the engineers here are considering whether to ask the city to adopt an ordinance.