(The following report by Brian Maas appeared on the Denver television station CBS4 website on December 2. A video is available at: http://news4colorado.com/investigates/local_story_335162208.html.)
DENVER — Technology is supposed to make our lives better, but critics claim a new way of moving trains through the Denver railyards is putting lives at risk and the public in danger.
Remote control is being used to move train cars, and sometimes hazardous waste, around the yards.
The trains are rolling through Denver railyards.
But there’s something different about these trains: there’s nobody on board.
Burlington Northern and Union Pacific Railroads have begun using remote control technology to move trains and freight around Denver railyards.
They use a small radio control box to send the trains forwards or backwards — up to a mile-and-a-half down the tracks.
For the railroads, it reduces the number of workers needed and cuts costs. But one railroad union contends the savings for the railroads puts the public at risk.
Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers Union representative Mike Young said he is critical of the safety of remote control operations.
“We’ve experienced 200 accidents with remote control equipment,” Young said. “There has been one fatality, four to five amputations over 200 accidents due to unprotected movement with this equipment.”
News 4’s investigation found at least two accidents in Denver railyards involving remote control technology.
On July 23, a Burlington Northern train, operated by remote control, derailed in Denver. Empty tank cars that carry liquefied gas went off the tracks.
Another remote control accident in Denver led to a lawsuit.
Last November, a remote controlled engine ran into another engine during the night, injuring one Burlington Northern worker.
Last year in Baton Rouge, La., a remote controlled train derailed, shutting down local highways for hours.
Earlier this year, a male train employee was killed in Syracuse, N.Y., when he was hit by a remote controlled locomotive.
In northern California, a rail worker lost a leg during a remote control accident.
This year, Sen. Ted Kennedy wrote to the Federal Railroad Administration that he was “deeply concerned” about the threat remote controlled operations pose to worker and public safety.
Burlington Northern said those concerns are misplaced.
“On Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway we have noticed a 52 percent reduction of incidents on our line alone,” spokeswoman Lena Kent said. “The railroad contends remote controlled trains are safer than those with engineers on board.”
Railroad officials say every accident is due to improper use of the technology — that operators are always supposed to be positioned at the front or back of a train.
“There is an employee if the train is moving forward and there’s an employee that precedes that movement,” BNSF Jim Perdew said. “If a train is moving backwards there is an employee that protects that movement as it proceeds backward.”
In theory, it’s a safe way to operate.
In practice, that’s not what News 4 always videotaped.
Several times last summer, News 4 filmed while operators sent trains up and down the tracks with nobody in position to actually see where the train was headed. And in yards easily crossed by pedestrians looking for a shortcut, or with trains carrying hazardous materials, the consequences could be significant.
“Nobody being around to watch the front of the train and protect it, it is pretty dangerous stuff,” Young said.
But the level of danger is the subject of a heated ongoing debate.
No remote controlled operations are being used outside the Denver railyards.