Posted on 05/19/2015 10:28:05 AM PDT by Olog-hai
The union for Amtrak’s locomotive engineers on Tuesday urged the railroad to put a second engineer at the controls of trains on the busy Northeast Corridor, where a derailment killed eight people and injured more than 200 others.
“The public would never accept an airline operation with a single person in the cockpit,” the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen said in a statement. “There is no reason that rail employees and rail passengers’ lives should be viewed any differently.”
Brandon Bostian, 32, was alone in the locomotive of Train 188 when it derailed May 12, about 10 minutes after departing Philadelphia for New York.
Amtrak hasn’t had a second crew member in the locomotive of its Northeast Corridor trains since Congress ended the requirement in the early 1980s, the union said.
Amtrak didn’t immediately comment on the union’s request. …
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Ha!!
I bet they do.
I figured that if the new electric locomotives had a single cab, then an access gangway would exist between the passenger cars and the engine cab so that the rest of the crew could get to it. European locomotive makers only manufacture single cab electrics for higher-speed trains, though (faster than 137 mph).
Amtrak’s due to get new cars from Spanish company CAF soon, with cab cars that allow push-pull operation of the train (engine in the rear pushing the train for half the trips); but that means the engineer is accessible for only one direction of the journey.
I’m okay with having two engineers, as long as they split the wage between the two engineers.
Don’t Trains have dead man switches anymore?
Robots would be better.
Built by whom?
Frankly, their external “robot”, called “ACSES” (Advanced Civil Speed Enforcement System) somehow was not activated on that very section, even though it was installed. Government robots are still in the control of government employees.
Yes, but the engineer wasn’t dead. Very much alive, and most likely very much in control of his faculties; if he could operate the dead man’s device, he could do other things.
Putting two homos together in the engine cab for a long ride. What could possibly go wrong???
This development was predicted by somsbody right here on FreeRepublic — the very day of the derailment.
They did not turn it on.
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