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Federal officials still mull one-person crew regulations
"the Association of American Railroading stated that with the instillation of positive train control "
I believe that should be “Railroads” and “installation”.
The safest way to operate a train whether carrying freight or passengers is a well trained crew of two people.
I cant believe that after the Philly wreck, feds are still draggin on this.
The fact that a year’s worth of time renders nothing should be a hint that one person crews are losing propositions.
There’s a number of foreign railroads that handle high volume and trains that carry much greater tonnage that would disagree on the reduced safety of having only one person crews.
A specific crew size for all trains will make no sense, but that is probably what we should expect from the government.
I videotaped short lines around the turn of the century and witnessed many operations with two crew members with one in the cab and one on the ground in a pickup. The latter would always beat his train to a crossing and conduct a run-by inspection. If he saw a problem, he could radio the engineer. This seemed to ensure even greater safety than having him ride in the cab with the engineer.
I also believe that certain trans, such as gravel, sand and cement hauls could operate quite nicely with a single crewman since they pose little danger in an accident.
Conversely, a third crew member who is riding in a caboose (remember those) might spot a potential derailment on a crude oil, or other similar train, before it occurs, or if he/she could not detect it before the derailment, he/she might be in a better position to act than the members of the head end crew.
So you get a train separation and you have a one person crew what will be the procedures be for the one person to shut down and lock the train especially if it’s on a grade and then walk back to the break apart point and find / fix the trouble? Who gets out to flag a crossing or set a switch if signals fail?
Gee, I can’t wait for the first no person train to begin operating on the mainlines of America, ran by computer/ PTC. Sure would scare me to death to see that coming down the track.
Plainly a BAD idea just from a safety and flexibility viewpoint in case of an accident or a mid-train separation.