Originally published at: Railroads want feds to scrap 2-person train crew rule - FreightWaves
The Association of American Railroads is asking the Trump administration to repeal a Biden-era rule requiring two-person train crews.
Yet they wont say how maby careers will be lost due to such a rule. Nor How dangerous it is when my engineer has a heart attack in the middle of a canyon with zero road access and cant get the train down to the next crossing for medical attention so he dies and his family gets a oops sorry from the railroad. They want to FURTHER deregulate the saftey inspections on these trains but as of last federal inspection of equipment one of the largest class 1s in the US had 70% over the national average of locomotives uncompliant by FRA standards. Along with 30% above that average of freight cars FRA non compliant. Yet they continue to lay off the personnel responsible for these things and want to further cut into crucial transportation positions after already dismantling the 3 man crew consist in 2024 with a shady bought vote by new hires and pushed lies. Continuing to break revenue records quarterly but cant afford to keep these men safe while simultaneously preaching SAFTEY 1ST. Ya ok, more like get down the hill fast Safety last.
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I’m trying to ignore the perhaps unintentionally slanted construction of this article. There have been legitimate reasons put forth for why two man crews are too few, not too many. There is a surfeit of screamingly apparent real-world evidence that fewer brake inspections are antithetical to safety. Somehow, the author failed to mention either of those points as he pontificated in favor of bloated railroad profits at the expense of safety. That isn’t an oversight I can ignore; it is blatant propaganda. Do better.
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How does the two man crew rule stop them from implementing data driven instruments they want? They should go back to 3 man crew if the two man crew isn’t working and still getting derailment with a 4 hr heads up from police about a broken track section.
Who’s going to call an ambulance and stop the train if the one and only crew member has a medical emergency?
They just want to cut jobs and likely won’t implement anything that actually improves safety.
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I can’t even imagine who at DOT bought into the malarky that one person can safely operate a freight train. The points raised so far in the comments should readily demonstrate that the concept of a one-man crew has always been doomed to fail.
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The lawyers and high level executives of the carriers who want to scrap never had to carry a 90 pound knuckle back along the ROW and replace it and then couple up. Roving Car Maintainers and so called Roving Conductors in 4x4 trucks cannot access all points of the ROW. Oh yes…it sometimes takes 2 people to replace a broken hose…
The AAR has a false sense of what actually happens during train operations.
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Right on the nose with this take.
Totally agree! My son is a conductor and he said this whole one man crew is ridiculous! It boils down to making more $$ for the Shareholders and CEO’s. You are correct in that 2 is bare minimum and like my son says, what if something happens to the engineer or himself, who’s gonna call 9-11 and stop the damn train? I can’t believe this is even being considered. These railroads make billions of dollars in profit and act like they need more $$. I sent an email to Trump through the White House website to consider the safety implications and the loss of jobs. This is my son’s dream job. Eventually, he might consider being an engineer, but he loves being a conductor. I’m with you all the way on this one!
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Let’s just be honest, we all know the Railroads are beholden to the shareholders and it’s all about the almighty dollar…they don’t care about the safety of the crews. The union reps are paid additional $$ by the railroads to skew in their favor on decisions, talk about a conflict of interest. My son works for the railroad and he said the times when the union reps won’t even fight for obvious things (like this) is insane. He absolutely loves his job and has always wanted to work for the railroad, but dealing with the higher ups and union reps is stressful as hell.
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Contact the White House (president Trump) and tell him to leave this EO in place as is…one of the few things Biden got right. Contact Us – The White House
I will be contacting the White House (president) and speak with the president (Donald Trump) about this. Thanks Terri! If you have his email already, please forward as it will take me a while to track it down.