On Friday morning, the company announced that it had operated a 30-car freight train with its LEADER on-board train control and energy management system in full control. The test took place on Aug. 27 at the Transportation Technology Center Inc. test track in Pueblo, Colo.
In an interview with Trains News Wire, John Risch, National Legislative Director of SMART Transportation, North America’s largest rail trade union, notes that running a train on a secure test track is a lot easier than running one out on an actual railroad.
“That’s not real world train operations,” he says. “There were no other trains to meet, no crossings to deal with, no pedestrians around.”
Union officials have been raising the alarm in recent years that technology like LEADER and positive train control could lead to single-person train crews or even driverless trains. Union officials say either scenario would lead to a decrease in safety.
“We still need to have two people aboard every freight train in the United States,” Risch says. “Just like we still have two pilots on every plane, even though a plane can basically fly itself.”
Is this subject part of your American election;divide and conqueror .We know that for years the Skytrain in BC Canada has operated without an accident YET it is operated where no trespassers or terrorist can climb onto the property and cause harm to the operation or themselves ?
Automated trains, just one more step towards “THE ALMIGHTY GEEK” where someone will eventually run the entire world via computers all by him or herself.
John Browne’s thoughts on engineering.
Yes, technology can operate trains, it’s already doing it. But the prospect of running a typical heavy US train over most existing, easily accessible, systems without a soul on board will not be politically acceptable or doable.
This will work great….well until someone hacks it and then well….?
Every train doesn’t need 2 crew members and hasn’t for awhile. Unit trains, intermodal can all run with 1 man. Regardless of length and tonnage. Now with long manifest freights with multiple work along the route.. Have 2.
I think Mr. Wallace is right on this one. It won’t be the technology that stops this from happening it will be the politicians. After all, if they can’t get rid of the anachronistic Amtrak LD trains how are they going to deal with this technology which they don’t have the brain power to comprehend. The unions don’t have anything to worry, about at least for a long time.
All you naysayers and the unions are fighting a losing battle…at some point in our future trains will be driverless, just like trucks. As for the comparison to airline pilots, it is valid, a plane can literally take off, fly and land all by itself…how do you think most Asian airlines operate, their pilots do not normally do manual take off and landings, instead letting the auto-pilot function perform those operations…that is why we had that Asiatic Air crash at SFO several years ago, the pilots allowed the plane to land itself and did not know how to perform a manual landing.
The unions are just blowing smoke now, autos and pedestrians on the railroad right of way and tracks are not the crews problem, until we realize this is just Darwinism at work and stop worrying about those people we will always be a little behind the times. Neither a car, truck or person is comparable to the weight and velocity of a moving train and anyone of those that thinks they can beat one to a crossing or can walk/use the right of way safely is just asking to be demolished.
A set out along the line for a bad order car wouldn’t be that difficult, but you’d need automatic coupler’s for that, where as the air can move the knuckle into the open position for cutting out and for recoupling. The unions are on the defensive because they can see the writing on the wall…you also don’t need 2 crew men in the cab, one is enough.
I do not want any trains running through our country , or our cities without someone on board to observe the operation of the train . There are to many situations that could come up that requires a human being to be there .There are very few places that a train can operate in the United States where it does not pass through populated areas . The Australia train does not represent anything similar to the United States . It ran from point A to point B with nothing in between . The operation of trains and trucks without human supervision will open up a can of worms that will cause loss of life , tie up traffic and be a nightmare for our country .
the union will fight this until they are hoarse. They will lose. All these excuses (trespassers, broken train, etc) cannot be handled by the crew presently. A flock of officials show up whenever something occurs. The automatic train will stop and wait. Plus, if folks know there is no engineer, they may not try to outrun it to the crossing
Gotta agree with the union on this one.
Comparing 2 pilots on a passenger airplane that has to take off, fly in sometimes very crowded skies, and then land to having 2 crew members on a freight train is not a valid comparison. I say that as someone who would be opposed to only having one crew member on a modern US freight train unless they run them like Europe–40 cars or less and short distances. Having no one on a freight train (unless its a totally closed, short distance environment similar to an extremely rural mining operation) is not an option.
I still don’t understand why if there’s 2 on a freight train they shouldn’t both be engineers and take turns during the 8-12 hours on duty. To me that’s just common sense.