Remote control introductory in Canada

[rootsblown]

I've heard MMA is trying to get canada to accept the remote control converted caboose/locomotive with a one man crew. They were suppose to be up there just recently to let them try it out and see what they had to say about it. My opinion on this is that , its not any faster working this way then it is with a engineer and brakeman. One person running a remote can only do one thing at a time and there is only 12 hrs in a shift.

[MEC407]

Speed must not be their priority. I'm sure we can all think of other regional railroads that place a much higher emphasis on saving money than on saving time.

[rootsblown]

Yes, but in my book time is money. They must want to lose more customers. lol

[ShortlinesUSA]

Sure, shortlines and regionals are all about saving money and they all pretty much know how to do things as efficiently as possible, but I cannot think of another one out there that has implemented one-man RC crews to the extent the MMA has. Discussions of RC operations don't take long to spiral out of control, so I'll skip that, but I follow this segment of the industry quite closer and there is no road the size of the MMA to which I can think to make a comparison. Most of them that use RC operations do so for industrial switching applications, not to knock down to a single person crew on yard and local operations.

[MEC407]

Fair points. To play devil's advocate, are those other comparably-sized regionals having as much financial trouble as MMA? Similar traffic levels? Similar number of customers per mile?

I'm NOT in favor of one-man crews, lest anyone think that I'm advocating for them.

[ShortlinesUSA]

I don't think there's a regional out there in as bad of shape as MMA, though I don't know what the books look like to be honest. I can think of some other large shortlines and small to medium size regionals with similar lack of online shippers to the MMA, but those also have the luxury of Class 1 overhead trains which pay the bills. MMA definitely has their work cut out for them, and needs to run as lean as they can.

It's possible one difference could be with the larger resources of RailWorld to draw upon, MMA has actually been able to invest in RC equipment, where a similar sized railroad faced with dwindling traffic (think Escanaba & Lake Superior, for example) can't shell out the money to acquire the RC equipment even if it would ultimately save them money.

I'm sure there are pros and cons to either side.

[rootsblown]

I'm not sure that MMA is hurting as bad as everyone might think.. They are actually needing more locomotives each day in service [23 ] to run the freight they are moving . Compare this to a couple years ago when 19- 20 was needed on a daily basis to operate. Granted, they are leasing 1 or 2 to MNR but thats beside the point.