(The following story by Jana Peterson appeared on the Idaho State Journal website on April 30.)
POCATELLO, Idaho — A Union Pacific van was struck by a remotely-controlled train in the Pocatello UP hump yard early Friday. There were no injuries and the accident was on private property, so it was not investigated by local authorities.
“The people operating the train were watching the van, but they thought (the van driver) was just turning around,” said UP spokesman John Bromley. “He swerved in front of the train and it struck the van.”
Bromley didn’t know why the driver swerved, nor would he release the name of the van driver. No one else was in the van at the time of the accident, approximately 3 a.m.
“He surprised them,” said Bromley.
The accident is the first reported in Pocatello yards since the railroad switched to remote control earlier this year. UP first implemented the technology two years ago in Des Moines, Iowa, and plans to have it systemwide by the end of this year.
A 38-year-old Union Pacific switchman was killed April 11 after he apparently fell under a freight car being pushed by a remotely-controlled locomotive in the Riverdale, Utah, switchyard.
The Utah switchman was believed to have been riding on the freight car and there were no witnesses who saw the 3:50 a.m. accident, Bromley said in a previous interview with the Journal, adding that the man was not wearing a belt pack at the time, so the locomotive did not stop when he fell.