Trains without conductors, can it be real? Are they on their way, you bet they are and many advanced scientific groups are working on these technologies. Such as the one above and DOT research at Pueblo Colorado run by Betchel. The future is here and aircraft, trucks, buses, cars will all be remote control. It may take a little for the public to get use to but the technology is here now and they are improving it every day. At Burlington Northern Training has already begun for remote control locomotives.

http://www.amarillonet.com/stories/010703/new_trainingbegins.shtml

http://www.qinetiq.com/services/intelligent/services0.html

http://cbs2.com/specialassign/local_story_196125242.html

Things are happening at other rail companies as well. The Robotic Railroad makes sense and we already see in so many cities trams and trolley cars, which run themselves. There of course are the safety concerns and the media is feeding frenzy about rail safety and of course this is happening due to Rail Road unions and those issues. At this rail road conductors union they are very concerned for loss of jobs and inciting the public.

http://railunions.org/bnrco.htm

and of course they put their spin on it too:

http://www.ble.org/pr/newsletter/0502newsletter/ .

But no matter what the railroad is changing and for many good reason; one recent article in Trains Magazine discussed the preciseness needed to power a two-engine tow with a one engine push over a hill to insure proper tension on the knuckles (hooks) between cars. It takes finesse, but also means engineer error can occur and usually most accidents are from old tracks or conductor error. 40% of all rail goes by train these days as trucking companies also switch to piggy back service with trailers instead of long haul due to over regulated trucking industry, insurance and fuel costs and of course shortage of drivers. Companies like Swift, JB HUNT, FED Ex are worried about the lack of drivers too.

Railroads such as Burlington Northern use 1 billion gallons of diesel per year and if the computers can run the trains more efficiently they can save millions of dollars per month per routing number. Trucking companies and even independent truck drivers often find ways to save fuel and the larger trucking companies are trying to lower costs to compete, that includes large mergers. Such as the recent Yellow, Roadway;

http://kansascity.bizjournals.com/kansascity/stories/2003/09/01/story7.html

http://kansascity.bizjournals.com/kansascity/stories/2003/08/18/daily14.html

http://www.forbes.com/2003/07/08/cx_tm_0708video2.html

Whether you are moving freight or people we must be considerate of the future and our real transportation needs after all we depend on everything that goes on a train or truck and we need the efficiency, cost savings and safety and it appears that these new technologies will help with the distribution flow. These are great achievements of mankind with wonderful benefits for all of us. Think about the future with no one upfront running the trains?

"Lance Winslow" - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/