Train dispatcher

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about rail industry occupation. Train Dispatcher is also a computer simulation by Softrail.

A Train Dispatcher is employed by a railroad to direct and facilitate the movement of trains over an assigned territory, which is usually part, or all, of a railroad operating division.

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Charles Minot, a Division Superintendent on the Erie Railroad is credited with the first effort to control the movement of a train beyond the Rule Book and Operating Time Table, when, in September 1851, he sent a telegram to a railroad employee at another location directing that all trains be held at that point until the train Minot was riding could arrive.

From that beginning, a system of train dispatching evolved. The Operating Rule Book, later standardized for all railroads, contained the basic rules for the operation of trains, such as the meaning of the all fixed, audible and hand signals; the form, format and meaning of train orders; and the duties and obligations of each class of employee. The Operating, or Official, Time Table established train numbers and schedules; meeting points for those trains; showed the length of passing tracks at each station as well as indicating the locations where train orders might be issued and contained a variety of other information which might be necessary or useful to train crews operating trains over the territory covered.

Train orders supplemented the Time Table and the Rule Book. They were addressed to a particular train or trains and directed that train or trains to do whatever the Train Dispatcher had decided needed to be done: meet another train, wait at specified locations, run late on its published schedule, be cautious under the circumstances described or numerous other actions. (See Wikipedia Train order)

Train Dispatchers are required to be intimately familiar with the physical characteristics of the railroad territory for which they are responsible, as well as the operating capabilities of the locomotive power being used. Experienced Train Dispatchers learned the idiosyncrasies of the locomotive engineers and train conductors and melded that knowledge into the operating decisions made. An efficient Train Dispatcher could utilize the Rule Book, Time Table, Train Orders and personal experience to move a large number of trains over the assigned territory with minimal delay to any train, even in single-track territory.

Initially, Train Dispatchers issued train orders using American Morse code over telegraph wires. Later, after the telephone was invented in 1876 and became common, most railroads constructed their own telephone systems, for internal communications, which the Train Dispatchers used to issue train orders. The last train order known to have been issued using Morse code was copied at Whitehall, MT, May 6, 1982 on the Burlington Northern Railroad.

Beginning before World War II and accelerating after that event, most major railroads installed Centralized Traffic Control (CTC) systems to control train movements. Using CTC, a Train Dispatcher could align track switches anywhere on the territory so that trains could move into and out of sidings without having to stop and hand throw switches. The Train Dispatcher could also control the trackside signals governing the movement of trains. Satellite radios enabled train dispatchers to communicate directly with train and engine crews. These capabilities eliminated the need for most train orders, but still required the oversight of a Train Dispatcher.

[edit] See also

• Centralized Traffic Control
• Vince Coleman (train dispatcher)
• Trainmaster (Railroad)
• Railroad engineer
• Railroad Terminology

[edit] References

• Association American Railroads Standard Book of Rules, 1926 edition.
• Association American Railroads Consolidated Code of Operating Rules, 1967 edition.
• Milestones in Telegraphic History, by Robert Jones [1].