Re: Marceline Subdivision crewless trains?
Author: Roger Harm
Date: 07-03-2017 - 19:43
It's not complete bullshit. Whether the testing of crewless trains actually occurred, it is probably going to happen.
From Trains magazine Fred Frailey November, 2016 editorial column:
"But behind the scenes, there is more going on. It’s safe to say that Rose’s fellow rail executives share his concern about the debut (Rose thinks within five years) of driverless trucks. If that technology is widely adopted, it could mean a massive loss of both railroad traffic and jobs—that is, unless railroads reduce their own costs by adopting new practices made possible by such technology as positive train control, which is designed to prevent collisions.
“We’ve had more conversations with our labor leaders” since the contract was shot down, Rose says. “There is a change in attitude happening. Our employees see what’s happening with trucks. They see what happened to our coal business, too.”
Both CSX and Norfolk Southern have let it be known within the industry that their goal is a crew size of zero. Asked about this, Rose says he’d be happy with a single person aboard his trains."
So crew size from 5 down to today's 2, then one. With on-board cameras looking in and out, Utility Man agreements already on the property, and PTC with Trip Optimizer, it's a simple matter of time/money to have no one up there.