Union tries to derail plans for remote-control trains

By Jim Janssen / The Press-Tribune

The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers (BLE) is bringing its fight against the use of remote-control trains to Sacramento.

The union has scheduled a protest rally at the Amtrak depot, 401 I St. in Sacramento from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday.

According to Tim Smith of Auburn, stage legislative chairman for the BLE, Union Pacific and Burlington Northern-Santa Fe railroads plan to implement remote controlled trains - where locomotives are operated without an engineer on board - in their San Jose, Oakland, Sacramento and Roseville yards.

Remote controlled trains are operated by a belt pack worn by the operator around the waist. The locomotive receives its instructions by radio signals from the belt pack to a computer in the cab - much like a computer-operated model racecar or airplane. The operator does not need to be in the engine to operate it.

Switchmen and not engineers would operate the remote controlled locomotives, according to Mike Furtney, spokesman for Union Pacific in San Francisco. He said switchmen are being trained to operate the engines in the Bay Area. The training takes 88 hours.

Furtney said remote control would be used only for switching operations inside the yard and not for road locomotives that haul trains from one city to another.

"Union Pacific is in the middle of an implementation phase started earlier this year in Kansas City, and now working its way to the West Coast," Furtney said.

Furtney said the technology, developed in Canada, has been in place approximately 12 years.

"It has been used by the Canadian Pacific Railroad very successfully," he said. "It's not a question of if it's coming to Union Pacific but when."

Smith said the demonstration is being staged to warn Sacramento area residents of the danger of remote controlled train operations.

"We have the support of the Teamsters and other AFE and CIO affiliates," Smith said. "Interest is coming from all over, not just California and the railroads."

In a prepared statement from the BLE, Smith said while the airline industry is increasing security by placing trained professionals in airports and on airplanes, railroads like UP and Burlington Northern-Santa Fe are taking federally certified locomotive engineers off of trains and running the locomotives by remote control.

"It makes no sense," he said.

According to the BLE, more than 60 locomotive engineer jobs have been eliminated in the U.S. while railroads - in apparent cost-cutting strategies - insist on using employees with limited training experience in remote controlled operations.

Furtney said UP has implemented remote controlled train operations in Des Monies, Iowa; Little Rock, Ark.; Kansas City, Kan.; and Houston, Texas, and is not training United Transportation Union workers to implement it on the West Coast, including Roseville.

"The Union Pacific believes it is completely safe," Furtney said. "Its implementation in Canada shows it to be safe."

Smith said he hears various stories when remote controlled train operations would be implemented in Roseville - anywhere from November to March of next year to a year and a half from now.