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Railroad worker killed by train engine operated by remote control By The Associated Press (12/08/03 - SAN ANTONIO) — A railroad worker was struck and killed by a locomotive he was operating by remote control. The death of Jody Allen Herstine has revived a debate over whether the devices assist rail workers or threaten their safety. The locomotive hit the 37-year-old worker just before 1 a.m. Sunday at the Union Pacific rail yards on San Antonio's near East Side, said Union Pacific spokesman Mark Davis. Davis said Herstine was using the waist-mounted device to operate two locomotives when the accident happened. Davis said he did not know if the five-year Union Pacific switchman was hit from the front or from behind. The National Safety Transportation Board and the Federal Railroad Administration are investigating. Concerns over remote-control locomotive conducting are only as old as the new technology, the San Antonio Express-News reported in Monday's editions. A Union Pacific engineer was injured in June when the locomotive he was in was struck by another being operated by remote control near the old Kelly Air Force Base. Similar accidents have prompted many rail yard workers to appeal for the remote controls to be discarded, and several cities across the country have banned their use, the newspaper reported. Davis said the system has been used in Canada for more than a decade and have cut rail yard accidents in half. However, Don Hahs, international president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers union, said the remote-controlling of locomotives is dangerous. He also said the two weeks of training workers is not enough. Even worse, he added, is the practice of sending conductors out without any backup. Davis confirmed that Herstine was working alone at the time of the accident. (Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved
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