North Little Rock becomes eighth U.S. city to oppose remote control
CLEVELAND, March 5 -- On February 24, North Little Rock, Ark. joined seven other U.S. cities in taking action against remote control locomotives.
North Little Rock is the second city in Arkansas to take action in recent weeks. Pine Bluff, Ark. passed a resolution on February 18 calling for a ban on remote control locomotives until safety requirements have been improved.
The North Little Rock measure is a “resolution opposing the use of remote control locomotives in the Union Pacific rail yards in the City of North Little Rock.”
The city also asked the Federal Railroad Administration to conduct a review of the safety of remote control operations and to develop comprehensive regulations to ensure that the public’s safety will not be jeopardized by remote control operations.
The resolution was approved at a meeting of the North Little Rock City Council and signed by Mayor Patrick H. Hays on February 24.
BLE Arkansas State Legislative Board Chairman Terry Todd attended the meeting. Union Pacific and the United Transportation Union sent representatives to oppose passage of the resolution.
UP’s representative, Vice President of Community Relations Jack Kyle, showed the City Council a four-minute video about remote control operations, which described how the UP and the UTU were working together to promote safety in remote operations. Also, the UTU State Legislative Director read a letter into the record about the safety of remote control operations.
In spite of the UP and UTU presentations, the resolution passed. Chairman Todd thanked Alderman Greg Yielding for introducing the resolution to the council. He also recognized Division 182 Local Chairman Gary Bell, Division 182 Legislative Representative David Corless, the other officers of Division 182, Division 278 Legislative Representative Bobby Hanson, and the BLE and GIA members who live in the area for their support. Chairman Todd also thanked the six UP General Chairman who organized the informational picket and planning meeting in June 2002.
For a PDF of the resolution, click here:
http://www.ble.org/pr/pdf/resolution6467.pdf
Wednesday, March 05, 2003
bentley@ble.org
