Feds Propose Two Crew Member Minimum On Trains, Irking Rail Industry And Drawing Praise From Safety

[neverforget]

Feds Propose Two Crew Member Minimum On Trains, Irking Rail Industry And Drawing Praise From Safety Advocates

U.S. federal regulators rolled out a long-awaited proposal this week that would require at least two crew members on most railroad trains across the country. It comes almost three years after 47 people were killed when an unattended oil train derailed and exploded in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec.

Critics doubt the measure’s safety benefits and say ongoing technological advances make a second crew member obsolete. But labor unions and safety advocates say such a mandate by the Federal Railroad Administration provides a crucial bulwark against railroads’ moves to reduce crew sizes. At stake, ultimately, is the future of work on the country’s hundreds of thousands of miles of track.

“The only way to operate a train safely is with a minimum of two crew members,” said John Risch, legislative director for the transportation division of the Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers union, which represents thousands of workers on the major railroads. “It’s like an airplane: You’ve got the pilot and co-pilot interacting with one another.”

Having another set of eyes and experiences to make judgment calls and address any unexpected problems is critical, Risch said. And in the event one crew member becomes incapacitated, the other can take over.

Just 2 days ago, a crew had problems with the DP (Distributed Power) at the end of the train. They had to stop and the engineer had to walk to the rear of the train (7500') to troubleshoot and fix the problem. The conductor stayed on the head locomotive to talk to the dispatcher. If there was a problem with one of the train cars, the conductor would walk the train to identify the problem while the engineer stays on the locomotive. Now imagine this scenario with single person crews......

The idea with single person crews is for a train to have just an engineer. If a problem should arise such as the one I just described, a so-called "super conductor" who is driving around would help the engineer out. We're talking about large distances and difficult to access areas for the "super conductor" to cover. Time is money for the railroad but they'll waste it to save on labor. Step over a dollar to pick up a dime.

[Kingofalldems]

1. But that costs money, says the republicans.

[neverforget]

2. kick

[Rex]

3. Oh no! They have to have two people now! That will cost thousands of dollars!

[neverforget]

4. Here's another example of penny pinching:

At my terminal, they cut the number of vans used to transport crews. So you know what happens? We get overtime because of the lack of vans. So in order to save money, they cut the vans but end up paying for the lack of vans in time and pay to the crews. Not to mention that management has had to transport crews.....