BNSF railroad braces for remote control technology

What would Casey Jones think?

This spring, railroad engineers will no longer be driving switch engines at Springfield's Burlington Northern Santa Fe rail yard.

A Canadian technology that provides remote control of switch engines in railroad yards has been adopted by U.S. railroad operations during the past year. Springfield is likely to get its shot at the portable locomotive control technology by mid-March, local BNSF officials say.

More than 20 BNSF yards throughout the country already employ the technology, which allows workers on the ground to move trains through the railroad yard with a hand-held device, according to Steve Forsberg, general director of public affairs for BNSF in Kansas City.

The issue seems to be a touchy subject locally, particularly in regard to the work force.

The concern is that the technology could displace those engineers who controlled the trains in the cab, but BNSF and union officials involved are tight-lipped on the subject.

"Anytime you're dealing with new technology, there is going to be concern," said Rob Kerley, general chairman of the local United Transportation Union, which represents railroad transportation employees.

Both Kerley and Roger Howard, BNSF director of government affairs in Springfield, confirmed that United Transportation Union and BNSF officials were negotiating a collective bargaining agreement but couldn't elaborate further.

Employment

Forsberg said there were no job losses in the 20 other BNSF yards where the technology is employed. Forsberg didn't think any job losses were expected in the Springfield yard.

"No single engineer has been displaced by this technology," Forsberg said. "The technology does eliminate a member of the switch crew because you're handing control of the switch engine from a person in the cab an engineer to one of the ground employees."

In most cases the switch engine operators go to work in over-the-road train service, he said.

The new technology drives an unprecedented change in duties between different unions. With the remote control operations, United Transportation Union employees on the ground handle the switch engine controls that were formerly handled by Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers members in the trains.

"For the first time you've handed switch engine control from an engineer into the hands of another labor organization," Forsberg said. "That has not happened before."

The United Transportation Union and BNSF reached a national agreement on the remote control technology in August 2002.

Howard said he wasn't sure what impact the technology and the national agreement might have locally. Any labor issues are being addressed with the unions and employees, he said.

"While there is a national agreement between our company and the (United Transportation Union), how that trickles and implements itself into Springfield, I don't know the answer to that yet," he said.

Telephone calls into the local Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers office were not returned.

Safety measures

Forsberg said besides efficiencies, the technology improves safety standards in the yards. Although it is too early to quantify BNSF's safety improvements, Canadian companies using the technology report yard accident reductions of 40 percent to 70 percent, he said.

"One of the problems that the railroad has had for a very long time is that the people most susceptible to injury and fatalities are in switching operations the people on the ground," he said. "This technology eliminates some of the communication problems that sometimes occur between the switch man on the ground and the person in the locomotive."

The Canadian railroads began rolling out the technology in the early 1990s, Forsberg said. Montreal-based Canac Inc. manufactures the locomotive remote control systems.

U.S. cargo train companies have been slower to embrace the idea.

"We've watched for a decade the success that the Canadian railroads have had," Forsberg said.

BNSF's Kansas City yard will be the first Missouri BNSF station to employ the remote control technology when it goes online this week, Forsberg said.

Howard is taking a step-by-step approach on the matter here.

"I assume that as this thing comes into fruition, there will be ongoing changes and modifications to the implementation plan," he said. "Our jobs are covered by union work rules and procedures, and those all have to be addressed.