2 Man Crews on Freight Trains

Technology and Labor Relations Negotiations are the driving force behind crew size on freight trains, not government fiat. Many people who cannot and do not operate freight trains attempt to micro manage jobs they have not and cannot perform. As many of us who are qualified to operate freight trains know, we are never asked for any input on the safety of the communities in which we live and work. Look no further than the Amtrak crashes in Frankford Jct., Phila., Pa., and DuPont, Ore., or the disaster in Megantic Quebec, for examples of what lies ahead for our nation if the crew size mandate becomes the law of the land. The one man crew in Megantic Que., had no way of testing the effectiveness of the hand brakes he had applied on the train of crude oil. It takes two people to do that. A Conductor on the train to apply the hand brakes on the consist of the train cars and the
Engineer to release the air brakes on the engine to determine if the train will remain in place. Scores of unsuspecting people in Megantic died on a summer's evening because of this. The recent Federal Register calling for the rollback of crew size needs to be rescinded at once for the safety of our communities nationwide.