I suspect the Class 1's will have a hard uphill fight on this one. Post Lac Megantic, the regulators in the U.S. and Canada have become adamantly opposed to one person crews and the brotherhoods certainly aren't in favor of it either.
Speaking as a 35 year shipper, the last 17 dealing with hazmat, the thought of one person crews makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
When BNSF had proposed this back in the May/June timeframe, their solution was to have traveling conductors who had responsibility for any train in their assigned territories. While they might start out with adequate staffing of this position, at some point it would become another opportunity to "do more with less" and that is when serious issues would arise.
Curt
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