{"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.
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Minnesota State Legislative Director Phillip Qualy<\/figcaption><\/figure>After a discussion he said he had last summer with FRA Administrator Ron Batory, Qualy said he had reason to believe that his communication over the safety a two-person freight rail crew provides might have been overlooked by the DOT and Batory and his agency. After all, there were about 1,545 comments in favor of the FRA establishing a two-person crew rule that were outweighed in the agency’s eyes by the 39 comments in favor of the May 2019 withdrawal of the proposed rule.
\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