No man trains

[TheS.P.caboose]

I don't think we'll have to be concerned about remote controlled trains in North America. Look at some of the cargo the rairoads carry about the land. I don't think the brotherhood of locomtive engineer would stand for it, just looking out for their members. I don't thinking the railroads would go for it, what happens if something went wrong in transit? In the later case, IMO, the lawyers would have a field day.

It may, and possibly has, come to pass in the yards where it's under a more controlled environment.

[TheS.P.caboose]

I don't think we'll have to be concerned about remote controlled trains in North America. Look at some of the cargo the rairoads carry about the land. I don't think the brotherhood of locomtive engineer would stand for it, just looking out for their members. I don't thinking the railroads would go for it, what happens if something went wrong in transit? In the later case, IMO, the lawyers would have a field day.

It may, and possibly has, come to pass in the yards where it's under a more controlled environment.

[Anonymous]

london underground victoria line,no driver,london docklands,no driver.its already here.

[Anonymous]

london underground victoria line,no driver,london docklands,no driver.its already here.

[Anonymous]

There is another factor that no one seems to think about with the unmanned trains. In any other country people DO listen when told to stay off of railroad property and stop at crossings. Not so here in the United States, too many people take things for granted and expect the world to come to a stop for them. some of them hope thay get hit, and live to tell about it, because the railroads "pay for" all the damages that occur, whether it is their fault or not.
People don't listen the way some of us older folks did when we were told to stay away from certain areas. If people would listen things might not be happening as readily and there would be no derailments or car vs. train accidents.
The other thing is the fact that today, we need engineers and switchmen more on the road trains because of all the possible terrorists that want to do damage to this great nation. With people in the cab of the engines as they are heading to where ever, they can see the places and things that might be occurring to their tracks, and report them to their dispatchers. We need them for the purposr of safety and responsibility!

ralph zimmer [e-mail]

[Anonymous]

There is another factor that no one seems to think about with the unmanned trains. In any other country people DO listen when told to stay off of railroad property and stop at crossings. Not so here in the United States, too many people take things for granted and expect the world to come to a stop for them. some of them hope thay get hit, and live to tell about it, because the railroads "pay for" all the damages that occur, whether it is their fault or not.
People don't listen the way some of us older folks did when we were told to stay away from certain areas. If people would listen things might not be happening as readily and there would be no derailments or car vs. train accidents.
The other thing is the fact that today, we need engineers and switchmen more on the road trains because of all the possible terrorists that want to do damage to this great nation. With people in the cab of the engines as they are heading to where ever, they can see the places and things that might be occurring to their tracks, and report them to their dispatchers. We need them for the purposr of safety and responsibility!

ralph zimmer [e-mail]

[Anonymous]

Mercedes is advertising technology that will recognize if a person steps in front of your car and stop the car before you could even react. That kind of technology would work well on a train without an engineer.

There's a world of difference between cars and trains.

A car can start and stop readily, but a train needs miles to come to a complete stop, that's where the human judgement comes in. The train would have to distinguish between cars passing over a level crossing and cars that are stuck on a level crossing, and decide in time to stop the train in time.

SkyTrain is driverless, but it's tracks are also all secure, being under ground, above ground or fenced in. The Railroads in the United States and Canada have many level crossings and open areas to the public; because of all the open areas there are many more judgement calls required because of people or cars crossing the tracks.

Driver less? Can't see why not with the way technology is going, it's bound to be a good few decades away though.

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