Australian Railroad to Eliminate Engineers

This subject has been a topic of discussion. I found this news item about a freight hauler in Australia moving forward with plans to eliminate the engineer. I can’t see this happening here in a big way for a long time.

http://www.railwaygazette.com/news_view/article/2008/06/8554/rio_tinto_to_go_driverless.html

Rio Tinto is one of the Pilbara ore haulers and is not a common carrier. Its isolation, even by Australian standards, may be one of the causes of the labor shortage.