(The Lincoln Journal Star posted the following Associated Press article on its website on March 3.)
NORTH PLATTE — Technology is taking over the driver’s seat of locomotives at Union Pacific’s Bailey Yard.
The nation’s largest railroad is starting to use remote controls to operate its switch locomotives at its rail yards across the country.
As a result, about 185 engineers soon will no longer be sitting in the cabs of locomotives at the Bailey Yard, which the railroad advertises as the largest rail yard of its kind in the world.
“They will eliminate the need of having an engineer in the cab,” said John Bromley, railroad spokesman.
The locomotives instead will be operated by switchmen on the ground who are now being trained to use the handheld remote controls.
The engineers will be given the option of driving train routes to and from other cities or taking a demotion — including a cut in pay — to keep working full time at the 2,000-employee rail yard outside North Platte.
“The engineers are not losing their jobs, but the productivity changes that will come with this will allow us to avoid having to hire so many people in the future,” Bromley said. “We’ll be able to slow down our hiring.”
The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers has protested Union Pacific’s conversion to remote-controlled locomotives for more than a year. The union, which has challenged the systems in the courts, is complaining about the lost jobs and concerns about the technology’s safety.
“The proliferation of these devices is dangerous,” said John Bentley, a union spokesman.
“They are taking a job that used to be done by someone who had six to eight months of training and they are giving it to someone with only two weeks of training. That is not enough training.”
Bromley said the union’s safety concerns are unfounded. The railroad has argued that the technology is safe and say statistics show increased safety in rail yards in Canada where remotes have been used for more than a decade.
“Some people are resistant to change,” Bromley said. “Change is always hard to sell to some people.”
Training on the remote-controlled systems started at Bailey Yard on Feb. 3 and is being started at the railroad’s other yards.
Bromley said all of the locomotives will be switched over to the new systems by June, at which time none of the yard’s engineers will be needed.
Bromley said most of the engineers are opting to drive train routes.