https://youtu.be/MuVRAg3HS-4
locomotives in middle and rear of train - connected by radios
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It's all about manpower. They (big 4) couldn't get 1-man crew thru the
FRA so they do next best thing: double the size of trains. One thing
you forgot to mention... the communication from lead unit to DPU is
via radio signals. CSX had issues in Big Bend tunnel in WV where they
would lose radio control between the DPU's and the train would go into
emergency. GE (back when GE was in the rail business) sent engineers
down equipped w/ gas masks who sat in the DPU units to figure out
where the signal was lost and where to put repeaters. They eventually
figured it out.
per comment 1 week ago
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Excellent explanation by a qualified person. I've been an engineer for
almost 40 years and currently work for Rio Tinto in Australia. Wanna
talk about reducing crews? For the last year or so, we've been running
our 33,000 ton iron ore trains, wait for it, UNMANNED. That's right,
controlled remotely from Perth, 1,000 miles away. They haven't quite
worked out how do have the helpers (or 'bankers' as we call them)
detatch remotely so any train that requires banking from the mine to
the top of the biggest hill on the line will still be driven at the
head end and at the rear but once it reaches a certain point and the
bankers have gone (the last 290 or so kms to the port is downhill),
the head end crew programs the train, gets off, and sends it on its
way. Empty trains run from the port all the way to the mine, some 500
kms, with no crew aboard. Think about it, a 33,000 ton train running
downhill for 290 kms, unmanned.
per comment 1 day ago
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