who controls the system

[Anonymous]

one day walking home from school i noticed a train parked up with a full compliment in the middle of town blocking two croosings and waiting behind another because the barrier arm wouldnt go down and im just wondering who controls these sought of things or is it automatic

[philnrunt]

As it's tranzrail, I would'nt know, but here most lines are controlled by dispatchers located (usually) thousands of miles from where they control. CSX has a dispatch center in Jacksonville Fla that controls their entire system,most of NS dispatching is from Norfolk Va, but they have a small dispatch center in Ft Wayne Indiana that I've been to, it is like a huge computer game, all lit up with track diagrams and the location and reporting marks of every train and any other thing that is on their track. The other guys can tell you where UP's and BNSF's are, but it's a truly amazing system!

[Anonymous]

Union Pacifics Dispatch Center main dispatch center is in Omeha Nebraska and BNSF's main dispatch center is in Ft Worth Texas. BNSF and Union Pacific also maintain joint dispatch centers in Gillete WY(for directing the Powder River Basin), Houston Texas (for directing traffic along texas's chemicle coast) and a suburb of Los Angelas who;s name I forget at this moment for keeping traffic from stopping up on the busy lines of both BNSF & UP out of the Las Angelas Basin

James

[Anonymous]

thats good to know........i wonder what ever happened to that train that was held up