History
In the United States remotely controlled locomotives have been in use since the 1980s. In 1988, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued a Hazard Information Bulletin regarding their use. By 1999 Canadian National Railway had 115 locomotives equipped with remote control equipment, covering 70% of flat-yard switching and all of its hump yard operations. Canadian National estimated a savings of CDN$20 million per year vs. traditional switching operations.
The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen has expressed concerns about remote control locomotives. The union stated that remote control locomotives are not as efficient as traditional engineer-in-cab switching operations while being more dangerous.
In 2001, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) recommended minimal guidelines for the operation of remote control locomotives.
The Union Pacific Railroad has developed remote-control enabling locomotives it refers to as Control Car Remote Control Locomotives. CCRCL's are stripped-down locomotives fitted with remote control equipment. CCRCL's have no motive power and must be coupled to a standard locomotive.
Locotrol is a product of GE Transportation Systems that enables distributed power sending signals from the lead locomotive to the remote units via radio control. Locotrol is installed on more than 8,500 locomotives around the world. Users of the system include BHP Iron Ore, Westrail and Queensland Rail in Australia.
Read more about this topic: Remote Control Locomotive
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