Council members voted 10-1, with David Boneno abstaining, to endorse the resolution which also calls for the mayor to be notified before a railroad implements a remote-control facility.

Mayor Pro Tempore Lorri Burgess, who wrote the resolution, urged other council members to vote for it as a way to make railroads more responsive to residents. She said an August derailment of a remote-controlled train in Baton Rouge raised her concerns about the issue.

"The next derailment might be one where there's chemicals (on the train) and we can't get people out," Burgess said.

The Kansas City Southern railroad line, which has used unmanned trains since April in its switching yard behind Memorial Stadium, has said the practice makes building chemical- and equipment-hauling trains safe and efficient.

KCS only uses remote controls to build trains in its switching yard, where a control tower can operate up to six locomotives. The trains only leave the yard with engineers on board.

The council has no authority over a railroad operating on its own property, as is the case with the KCS yard on Foss Street.

Burgess said her resolution banning remote-controlled locomotives was drafted to raise awareness of the practice, which is also used in other cities, not to attempt to exercise authority beyond the council's reach.

"If the knowledge base has been expanded through this resolution, I think the mission has been accomplished," Burgess said.

The only vote against the resolution came from Metro Councilman Pat Culbertson. Last week, Culbertson abstained from the Finance and Executive Committee's 3-0 endorsement of the resolution because he wanted to know how much remote-controlled locomotive usage was confined to switching yards.

At Wednesday's council meeting, he urged the group to defer the motion until KCS could respond to the safety concerns Burgess expressed. "I just find the charges you're making to be, frankly, a little reckless," Culbertson said.

Culbertson also said the issue isn't entirely a safety concern, despite how Burgess is presenting it. Remote-controlled locomotive usage, he noted, has come to be a sticking point in negotiations between railroad lines such as KCS and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, one of the two largest railroad workers' unions. Another rail workers' group, the United Transportation Union, has assented to the use of remote-controlled trains, while the BLE has filed lawsuits and staged demonstrations against the practice.

Culbertson said before the meeting that he thought the issue was one of union politics.

"Whether or not it is the intent of the author of this resolution, the resolution would in fact embroil the council in a labor-management dispute," he said.

Culbertson attempted to postpone the issue for two weeks, but was only joined by councilmen David Boneno and Jim Benham in voting to postpone.

Councilman Joe Greco didn'tvote that time, and the other eight council members voted against postponing.

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