Report: UP to begin testing ground-based conductors

Union Pacific Railroad in August and September will test ground-based conductors to respond to problems on trains in Nebraska and Colorado, the Associated Press reported this week.

The pilot project calls for testing UP’s idea of one-person train crews. The conductors will ride in trucks to respond to problems on trains used in the program. UP will continue to use two-person train crews elsewhere on the network during the pilot project, according to AP.

UP’s Jason Pinder confirmed the project when he testified July 17 against a proposed two-person train crew rule in Kansas. UP’s idea for one-person crews was shelved earlier this year after the SMART-TD rail union, which represents train conductors, opposed it during negotiations. However, the union later agreed to let UP test ground-based conductors as long as it agreed to drop negotiations over crew size, AP reported.

Still, union officials say they remain opposed to reducing train crews to one person. SMART-TD’s Ty Dragoo  testified at the Kansas hearing that it supports the proposed two-person crew requirement for safety reasons.

Railroads are opposed to crew-size mandates because they “lack a safety justification and ignore the successful use of single-person crews in the United States and globally,” according to the Association of American Railroads.