I'll say two things:
- RRMAN, I really did not expect you, of all who post here, to refer to "stinkin' conductor or brake person" which is insulting to all the railroaders who read these forum posts. It seems out of character for you and, although you probably meant no harm, it was unwisely phrased. I'll presume that it was a failed attempt at humor. If you had ever been a Brakeman out on a local freight, picking up and setting out cars in sweltering summer humidity, you might better understand how disrespectful that sentence is. And you mis-stated the point made in the article from Railway Age (which is that the FRA has decided that this topic does not need government intervention).
- No railroad is going to let a long train tie up its busy main track for hours while all other trains build up giant traffic jams ahead and behind, as a sole employee aboard struggles with an unplanned event such as an air hose separation 75 cars behind the locomotive. He might get the train tied down, analyze the problem, fix it if possible, and then release all the hand brakes the same day he started. Maybe. So the matter will work itself out through collective bargaining and possibly different processes for handling unplanned events. And the FRA, which, yes, was invited into the matter by unions, is now uninviting itself and urging states to do likewise.
