On September 1, 2026, the Federal Railroad Administration published Union Pacific’s petition for a waiver from part of the locomotive periodic-inspection rules. UP wants to eliminate the requirement that one of the recurring inspections on qualifying microprocessor-equipped locomotives be performed specifically by a Qualified Mechanical Inspector (QMI). UP says its data found no statistical difference between inspections performed by QMIs and non-QMIs and specifically cites cross-training employees across multiple mechanical systems as part of its justification. So In the words of the company " we dont need machinists or electricians anymore the engineer or conductor can do it. " or maybe whatever is left of mechanical.
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How in the heck can a laborer put brake shoes on backwards?
@xj you’re wrong, that’s electronic air brakes buddy, specifically CCBII & FastBrake. Just wait, the 184 day AFM calibration waiver on said electronic air brakes systems will become law before you know it.
@OP that would explain why there’s so many “green” units everywhere, yet I have to work my ar-e off in order to find a unit that is good enough to lead!
@OP microprocessor-equipment is performed by electricians and only electricians. So in other words, start looking for another job. Machinists already lost their jobs. So nothing new there.
UPRR requests a waiver from the requirement that the daily inspection conducted once every 33 days on a microprocessor-equipped locomotive be performed by a QMI, which, as defined under § 229.5,
Definitions,
must have a primary responsibility that includes work generally consistent with locomotive troubleshooting, inspection, testing, maintenance, and repair of locomotives. As a result, UPRR proposes to remove the requirement for a QMI to perform the referenced periodic inspection.
In support of its request, UPRR states that it has collected data on daily inspections performed by QMIs and non-QMIs and found “no statistical difference between the quality of daily inspections.” UPRR explains that the relief “will improve overall safety by reducing additional walking, getting [on and off] equipment, as well as improving the overall inspection quality by cross[-]training employees in multiple aspects of multiple interconnected mechanical systems.”
They tried having laborers do the dailies and changing brake shoes, looking at defects, etc already and that was an overwhelming success. I don’t know what could possibly go wrong with this?
Ill tell you first hand how many locomotive issues there are. A major breakdown happens at least once a day and alot of trains are running around with dead bad locomotives that arent being set out at shops to be fixed. This is gonna lead to a lawsuit misleading shareholders that locomotive availability is at a healthy place. This is a reason why there are so many releases on locomotives that didnt get anything done to them. They would rather fry these machines than fix them. Call HDC and ask them how bad it is. Its a huge problem that no one is taking care of. Its insane what is going on.
They are gonna waver themselves straight to bankruptcy. Vena and ilk only know one thing, prolonged subtraction. Let them keep cutting, cutting headcount, cutting regulations, cutting maintenance, cutting budgets. All this cutting will eventually lead to cut profits.
Do it!! Do it!! Every train running around has something majorly wrong with at least one locomotive. Usually a non working air compressor. Nobody is fixing anything anymore! It isn’t the mechanical fault. The company just wants releases. That’s all that matters. The quota.