Jody Allen Herstine, 37, (a member of Local 857 at San Antonio), was using the waist-strapped remote-control device to operate two locomotives shortly before 1 a.m. at the Union Pacific railyards on the near East Side when he was run over, said Mark Davis, a spokesman with the railroad.

Davis did not know if Herstine - a five-year Union Pacific switchman - was hit from the front or from behind.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) have dispatched investigators to San Antonio to look into Herstine's death. (A UTU Transportation Safety Team member was on the site of the accident Sunday to assist the NTSB in its investigation.)

An accident here in June injured a Union Pacific engineer near KellyUSA after the locomotive he was in was struck by another being operated by remote control.

The Union Pacific's Davis maintained that remote-control system has been in place in Canada for more than a decade, and data show a 50 percent reduction in railyard accidents.

In the railroad's U.S. experience with the system thus far - it was started in San Antonio about a year and a half ago - the same trend is developing, Davis said.

Warren Flatau, a spokesman for the FRA, noted that his agency will be releasing the results of a nationwide audit into the safety of the remote-controlled locomotives early next year.

But the leader of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, a union with 350 members in San Antonio, said although the cause of Herstine's death has yet to be determined, his union's warnings about the limitations and risks of remote-control work are becoming a reality.

Don Hahs, international president of the union, said controlling engines from the ground is dangerous. He also said the two weeks of training workers is not enough. Even worse, he added, is the practice of sending conductors out without any backup. (The BLE endorses such remote control operations, however, where the BLE holds the contract, such as on Montana Rail Link and the Texas-Mexican Railway.)

Davis confirmed that Herstine was working alone at the time of the accident.

"The system is designed for that. An employee working by himself in that situation is normal," Davis said.

The matter is further complicated by the fact that it has spawned a fierce inter-union rivalry.

While Hahs' Brotherhood strongly opposes the new system, the United Transportation Union has embraced it.

Frank Wilner, spokesman for the UTU, said the union signed a contract with Union Pacific two years ago accepting use of remote-control units - under condition that no jobs are lost and that proper training is given.

But, he noted, enough safety concerns have been raised that his shop lobbied the Senate for an investigation. That probe led to the FRA audit.

"We're extremely concerned about this fatality," Wilner said, noting that the UTU has between 550 and 600 members in the San Antonio area.

(This story was published by the San Antonio Express-News. Material in parenthesis was added by UTU editors)