Everything American railroads do is to make money.
Mechanical bells were illiminated to save money
same with mars lights
and rotary beacons
Classic locomotives werre retired for the sme reason.
So, just for the sake of argument, wouldn’t it save them a lot of money, I’m tlking over half of their expenses, if they ilmiminate manned locomotives, and switched the ENTIRE north American system to RC or even, heaven forbid Computer Contrlled. This way they wouldn’t have to pay any employees.
Again I’m not advocating this at all, I’m just playing devil’s advocate. I know that many of you work for railroads, and I want to know what you’ll say. [:-,]
That’s happening, where it’s possible - stuff like people movers at airports.
However, the one example of a captive railroad that runs fully automated (Black Mesa and Lake Powell Railroad) eventually put a human on board. I’m not sure if they’re still even running automated.
Never mind saving jobs, there are just too many factors involved to allow a railroad to run unmanned. Even on the almost crossing-free CSX Chicago line, they’ve managed to hit a pedestrian or to and pile up some cars. That’s not a slam on CSX - just an example I know of a current “best possible” situation.
Besides - there’s a lot more to running a railroad than running trains between point A and point B. Trains have to be assembled and broken apart. Brake hoses have to be connected. Trains have to be inspected, and someone has to walk back a mile from the locomotive to figure out why the air dumped while they’re a million miles from nowhere.
There’s a large museum layout in Chicago that’s fully automated. But it doesn’t switch, hump, or any of the hundreds of other things railroads do. All they do is run mainline trains around a loop that has no automobiles at crossings, animals in the gage, or even brake lines connected between the cars.
It’s a pie in the sky dream that is so far from being feasible that it’s hardly worth talking about.
It dont matter what we have to say, We will be heavily edited, post deleted and ridiculed for about anything we have to say anyways , like now there is someone smoking the report me button.
There’s an old saying: business would be a lot easier if it weren’t for employees and customers. Yes, the railroads would love nothing more than run unmanned trains. But, trains don’t run in a big circle as Tree pointed out. Small things like mechanical bells and mars lights are peanuts compared to trying to make the thing run on its own. Even remote locomotives have operators.
I had the privilege of being assigned by Trains to cover a Washington, DC presentation by the AAR on positive train control. I specifically asked those present if the technology could be developed to the point of operating crewless trains. I was told “That’s not our goal. That’s not even our vision. We have no desire whatsoever along those lines.” The development engineers also replied with a long list of reasons why it couldn’t happen–in short, PTC and other “automation” does nothing about the unexpected or unforeseen such as a washout, an obstacle on the tracks, a trespasser, a fault on the locomotives, a problem on the train, etc.
Suffice it to say the ONLY place such crewless automation has a chance is a completely closed, insular system such as an underground mine railroad, a mine-to-dock shuttle, etc.
Probably not feasible or economical today…but never say never. Look at where computer technology was in 1970… and look at where it is today. Who knows if on board train crews will ever be eliminated entirely, but one thing is for certain…our lives and jobs (railroad as well as others) will continue to change radically…and the pace of change will probably continue to accelerate. I look at my own career…15 years ago I couldn’t even turn the internet on…now my business can’t run without it…and I need it for alot of personal stuff too.
This has already been implemented on a couple of electrified coal to powerplant RRs as far as back as the 1960’s, the now closed AEP Muskingum mine and plant in Ohio for one. I seem to recall reading recently that one of the Australian iron ore mine-to-port operations is going to go crewless in the near future…
Wasn’t there a coal mine to power plant railroad in Ohio that ran automated trains? Muskigum? I think that went back to the 60s. It is possible to run automated trains. Is it wise to do so? – that is an other question.
Today, a few miles from me, pilots are using drones to fly missions in Afghanistan. I could envision locomotive engineers all sitting in a room operating drone trains by remote control. It would be cheaper: no more crew hauling, no lodging at then other end of the run, no more sitting on the engine waiting to get in or out of the yard, no more sitting at a red flag waiting for the trackmen to put the track back together. If your train is going to be delayed for an hour or so you just start running some other train. It would be safer; certainly an office environment is safer than a locomotive cab. Even in a head-on collision no one would get hurt, that is besides feelings and maybe job security. Instant communication links could be established between the engineer and local police and fire departments. If there was a hazardous material derailment the “office engineer” could be in instant communication with local authorities. There would have to be some on-the-ground support. A section crew or a roving conductor could change a knuckle. A police officer could close an angle cock and pull a pin to cut a crossing in an emergency. This may be pie in the sky, but, I think it could be feasible.
Lonely railroads of the Four Corners Trains, October 2000 page 50 coal-hauling railroads in northeast Arizona and northwest New Mexico ( ARIZONA, BLKM, BNSF, COAL, “DIVEN, WILLIAM P.”, EW, NEWMEXICO, TRN )
The Muskingum Electric was already mentioned. See -
Following along the lines of comments by clarkfork above:
It is one thing to go completely crewless and leave the operation of the train to sensors and computers. It is entirely another thing to take the engineer out of the locomotive, and placing him in a stationary office to operate the train remotely. But would there be any economic advantage to doing that? It would be safer for the engineer.
Outsourced to India? Well, the union contracts would be a huge hurdle. Right now it is safe to say that union engineers “own” the job of running locomotives.