CLEVELAND, August 20 — A UTU-represented shortline is running unmanned trains in Canada, according to the September 2003 issue of Trains Magazine.
The magazine’s lead story focuses on remote control train operations. Part of the article revealed that the Quebec, North Shore & Labrador Railway recently began running seven unmanned 20-car trains between mine loading points and a processing plant. The routes vary between 5 and 7.5 miles.
“It appears as that UTU leadership has taken the idea of remote control trains one step further,” BLE First Vice-President Ed Rodzwicz said.
The BLE First-Vice President also noted that the UTU “dovetailed” engineer and conductor seniority rosters on the QNS&L and signed an agreement in 1997 allowing engineer-only operations.