Locomotive in Middle of Freight Train?

[Oreius]

I’ve been watching freights near my home, and lately I have been seeing a lone locomotive stuck in the middle of just about every freight train. I live along NS tracks. It appears this locomotive has no engineer, but is likely remotely controlled. What is the purpose of having this locomotive? It never was used before.

 

[GDRRiley]

Distributed power units are remote controlled to help manage in train forces. They reduce the likelyhood of breaking couplers and other related draft gear. It is mostly apart of running longer and heavier trains.
pretty good video on it

 

[Maglev]

On an Empire Builder trip in 2021, I saw (and had read about) BNSF's coupling two trains together, so there were locomotives in the middle of a very long train.

 

[Bob Dylan]

I’ve been watching freights near my home, and lately I have been seeing a lone locomotive stuck in the middle of just about every freight train. I live along NS tracks. It appears this locomotive has no engineer, but is likely remotely controlled. What is the purpose of having this locomotive? It never was used before.

UP is doing the same thing in Texas with the Miles Long Freights they are running, which causes numerous delays for Amtrak Trains, both the Sunset Ltd and the Texas Eaglette.