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Citing public safety issues and a lack of equipment checks, the General Committees of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers May 15 filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court of Colorado in Denver seeking to prohibit Union Pacific Railroad from operating locomotive remote controls (LRCs) without what BLE terms "trained and certified locomotive engineers."

"This action is necessary because the Union Pacific Railroad has improperly and illegally eliminated engineers' work," said BLE spokesman Michael Young in a prepared statement, adding that several remote-control accidents have occurred on "most all" U.S. Class Is since the railroads launched LRC pilot programs earlier this year. "By law, such drastic, arbitrary change in work assignments requires negotiation between the parties. BLE is the proper holder of the contract for the craft of locomotive engineers and has traditionally, and historically, maintained this engineer work."

UP's response? "We don't know what the purpose of the suit in Denver is, but probably will seek to have it consolidated" with a pending LRC-related arbitration case, says spokesman John Bromley.

On Jan. 14, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division granted UP, Burlington Northern Santa Fe, CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern Railway, Conrail and Kansas City Southern an injunction against BLE, preventing the union from striking on the Class Is over the LRC issue. Railroad officials believe LRC implementation could enable them to cut by half the personnel needed to switch cars.

BLE wanted the court to view the case as a major dispute; instead, the court ruled it a minor dispute requiring arbitration — which prompted the Class Is to begin rolling out LRC pilots.

UP, which began its project in Des Moines, Iowa, recently provided LRC training to 50 switchmen at Hinkle Yard in northeastern Oregon.

"We're very pleased with [the results] so far," Bromley says. "We think we'll see safety improvement. We also expect to see more efficiency in the yards."

The UP suit is the second BLE's filed this spring. On March 22, the union filed suit against Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta and FRA Administrator Alan Rutter in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. BLE's charge: Because FRA and DOT never prescribed required regulations for inspections or tests of LRC equipment, they "have not lived up to their responsibilities" in administering the Federal Railroad Safety Act of 1970 or Locomotive Inspection Act.

— Pat Foran