One-man train crews are unsafe, says union negotiating with Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway

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HERMON, Maine — The runaway Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway train that plowed through a small Quebec town killing 50 people on July 6 had one engineer assigned to it.

The American union of railway workers representing most of Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway workers thinks the practice is dangerous, and has fought that work condition unsuccessfully since it began several years ago, its representatives say.

“We have always been and continue to be opposed to one-man trains,” said Mike Twombly, vice president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, on Monday. “We have opposed it and tried to negotiate it out [of union contracts] but Mr. Burkhardt [Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway Chairman Edward Burkhardt] was equally vehement.”
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On the American side of the border, when Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway formed in 2003, the company’s formation eliminated the union contract held by the century-old Bangor and Aroostook Railroad when that company was purchased by rail conglomerate Rail World Inc. and renamed, Twombly said. That contract mandated two-man crews.

The new freight service, which had about 275 workers, cut employee wages by 40 percent because of the bankruptcy and shutdown of the old Great Northern Paper Inc. mills in East Millinocket and Millinocket, a major rail customer.

In 2005, the company held a demonstration of the remote-control system by which one engineer could control an automated locomotive for the coupling and decoupling of cars. By 2010, the system was being installed company-wide.
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http://bangordailynews.com/2013/07/17/news/penobscot/railroad-union-negotiating-with-montreal-maine-and-atlantic-says-one-man-train-crews-unsafe/