Disclaimer - I haven't tested this, so if this behavior is implemented but just undocumented, then feel free to close this.

I just noticed in the Automation module that any functionality that replicates other mods ends up deferring to them; those features disable themselves in the presence of the redundant mod.

However, Iron Chains seems to closely replicate the behavior of Railcraft crowbars, yet there is no mention of the mod.

Is this intentional or merely unconsidered?

You can always disable them in the config.