Like Tree, I worked in one aspect of IT but I was in the communications area and started with voice circuits and data circuits with speeds of 1200 baud for teletype machines and then over four decades progressed to microwave and then fiber optic systems with gigabit speeds. This weekend, I saw one aspect of what these changes made when I obtained a reservation for the Amtrak Hoosier from a computer in my home, printed out the ticket and when I boarded the train, had the ticket scanned the coductor using a hand held device which verified it and completed the transaction. It also, I believe transmitted that tickets information to Amtraks IT department which tracked the transation and kept the auditers happy. When I was in college, the curriculum transitioned from tubes to transisters. And to do what I did for that ticket forty years ago would have required me to go to a depot or agency to obtain a ticket from a human ( or call and wait for it to be mailed) who might have had to send a teletype message or call to a reservation department where clerks would have to make a paper record. The ticket seller would issue the ticket which the conductor would collect, and it would have to be physically sent to the accounting department to process. So many jobs have been eliminated by IT but it is amazing what it has allowed us to do. IT lets you know where Amtrak trains are in real time across the country from your computer, (http://asm.transitdocs.com/). As mentioned by a previous poster, Amtraks locomotives are monitored realtime and all of the locomotives operating parameters are known real time at the headquarters. This monitering is where some of the data for the train speed and location on the mentioned trackatrain. But you asked about global warming. IT allows people to work smarter by having access to vast stores of information and knowledge. This should allow them to work more efficiently, and hopefully use less energy and create less CO2. The proof is left to the student.
By climate change I presume you are talking about generation of greenhouse gases. As a retired geologist (oil&gas) and railfan, my questions about this as related to railroads would be:
Data on fuel efficency between different locomotives, an even different modes (rail/truck/waterway/etc.)
Comparison of different loco fuels. Natural gas is cleaner burning, but leakage during production/transmission/refueling is a problem, as methane is a much more potent greenhous gas, although shorter lived.
Comparison of fuel burning locos vs. electrification and accompanying generation.
Oakster Hello everyone! I've been a rail industry fan since very young and have developed this inner feeling quite a lot for the past few years... So much that my Bachelors (IT Engineering and Management) end of 1st year project is actually related with climate change and how IT can help the rail industry contribute for a global cause. Hence my participation and my 1st post here :) Would like to ask you all if you have worked in this topics before or if you can provide any further details regarding this. If any of you can provide any input I'd be very appreciated :) All the best for you all! JC
Hello everyone!
I've been a rail industry fan since very young and have developed this inner feeling quite a lot for the past few years...
So much that my Bachelors (IT Engineering and Management) end of 1st year project is actually related with climate change and how IT can help the rail industry contribute for a global cause.
Hence my participation and my 1st post here :)
Would like to ask you all if you have worked in this topics before or if you can provide any further details regarding this.
If any of you can provide any input I'd be very appreciated :)
All the best for you all!
JC
Not sure how long you have been monitoring TRAINS FORUM, but it is a pretty eclectic group here; we are very fortunate to have a variety of railroad employees who check in here from time to time ( The 12' to 1' variety). Railfans from the US and Canada, some educators; also from overseas as well, ( U.K. and Australia, to mention a couple). Several of us from the Highway Transport side of the Industry; The aircraft side of Transportation, as well as active and retired military.
You medntioned climate change, as it pertains to railroads; as a area of your interest. If you search on the right side of the screen you'll find a 'Community Search' option for entering a key word; it will search the Kalmbach Forums from all their 'railroad interest' publications. There is alos a 'magnifying glass' icon on the upper page band that is a another search function for this magazine.
Hope this will help youi, and Welcome, again.
The state of IT today makes it possible to monitor what's going on thousands of miles away. For that reason, "office staff" can now do so from one central office - witness UP and BNSF each with a single dispatch center.
I was involved with a major campus IT installation that took it from a few serial links in a small number of buildings to over 140 nodes (and it continued to grow) connected by fiber optics. The Internet connection went from 256K to over 6Mb while I was running it.
What that means is that IT is now everywhere - as noted in a recent issue of Trains, conductors are now using tablets for their switch lists. Handheld AEI scanners may even simplify that process more.
And we can't forget the remote monitoring of locomotives and certain railcars (reefers, for one) - it's all IT. That info can be used to ensure that locomotives are operating in an optimum manner, and that delicate cargos are properly handles to reduce waste. It can also mean that "regular" cars can be monitored across the system so they are handled in the most efficient manner - no double or triple handling if it's not necessary.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
Welcome to the forum
IT has the same impact as it does on just about every other industry. It gives the office staff the abilty to do more with fewer employees. I will let the rail experts here on the forum get into some of the railroad specific uses for IT. Don't be suprised to see a few posts about global warming itself.
Welcome to the forums. I guess everyone knows what IT is, but I have to look it up.
Excerpt from Harvard Business Review, November 1958
https://hbr.org/1958/11/management-in-the-1980s
Over the last decade a new technology has begun to take hold in American business, one so new that its significance is still difficult to evaluate. While many aspects of this technology are uncertain, it seems clear that it will move into the managerial scene rapidly, with definite and far-reaching impact on managerial organization. In this article we would like to speculate about these effects, especially as they apply to medium-size and large business firms of the future.
The new technology does not yet have a single established name. We shall call it information technology. It is composed of several related parts. One includes techniques for processing large amounts of information rapidly, and it is epitomized by the high-speed computer. A second part centers around the application of statistical and mathematical methods to decision-making problems; it is represented by techniques like mathematical programming, and by methodologies like operations research. A third part is in the offing, though its applications have not yet emerged very clearly; it consists of the simulation of higher-order thinking through computer programs.
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