Railroad’s Plan to Test Idea to Cut Train Crews Put on Hold

Union Pacific’s latest attempt to move toward cutting its train crews down to one person remains on hold because of the longstanding safety concerns of the union that represents conductors. The railroad had wanted to start a pilot project this year in the western end of its home state of Nebraska to test out how quickly a conductor based in a truck could respond to train problems and compare that to how fast the conductor aboard the train could address them. But the Transportation Division of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers union refused to agree to the plan because it believes train conductors play a crucial safety role. UP executives told the Federal Railroad Administration that their plan would have helped them determine how feasible it would be to reduce train crews down to just an engineer and might give the agency valuable information to consider as it weighs whether to issue a rule requiring two-person crews.

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/nebraska/articles/2023-01-19/railroads-plan-to-test-idea-to-cut-train-crews-put-on-hold