{"id":49788,"date":"2020-02-13T13:27:06","date_gmt":"2020-02-13T18:27:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.smart-union.org\/?p=49788"},"modified":"2021-12-21T15:37:07","modified_gmt":"2021-12-21T15:37:07","slug":"heres-a-little-reminder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smart-union.org\/heres-a-little-reminder\/","title":{"rendered":"Here’s a little reminder …","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"
The incident earlier this month in which a two-person crew helped to save a 5-year-old girl in his state reminded SMART Transportation Division Minnesota State Legislative Director Phillip Qualy of a letter his state’s legislative board submitted in 2018 in response to a federal Department of Transportation request for comment about autonomous rail operations. \u201cThe railroad carriers and their associations claim two persons will not be necessary on trains with ATT and\/ or PTC,\u201d Qualy wrote. \u201cThese technological control features have nothing to do with the necessary and essential tasks of the train-machine behind or ahead of the locomotives.\u201d The incident earlier this month in which a two-person crew helped to save a 5-year-old girl in his state reminded SMART Transportation Division Minnesota State Legislative Director Phillip Qualy of a letter his state’s legislative board submitted in 2018 in response to a federal Department of Transportation request for comment about autonomous rail operations. After […]<\/p>\n","protected":false,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"html"}]},"author":7,"featured_media":25975,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[200,18,4333],"tags":[1090,2937,2281,2765],"member_types":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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\n“This was a good letter that our members should read and be aware of,” Qualy said. “This spells out the essential argument of why having two people on the crew is important.”
\nIn the letter, Qualy reminds Batory that technology does not always reduce the tasks involved in operating a train, citing crew duties such as:<\/p>\n\n
\nThe Feb. 1 incident in East St. Paul, Minn., in which a missing girl was found by a two-person train crew after they alertly stopped and provided aid is a perfect example of why two sets of eyes are needed in the cab.
\n\u201cRailroad carriers have a moral responsibility to provide for the right of Samaritan response,\u201d Qualy wrote in his letter.
\nThe questions need to be asked. Would the girl have been seen if it were a one-person operation that night? Would the sensors of an autonomous train have detected her, stopped the train and invited her into the cab of the locomotive for warmth and protection and then contacted authorities so she could be reunited with her worried family?
\nHere\u2019s a little reminder that some on the railroad believe in moral responsibility over innovation.
\nRead SLD Qualy’s letter.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"html"}]},"excerpt":{"rendered":"