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NS has shut down all Amtrak trains on their system.

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Posted by n012944 on Tuesday, February 25, 2020 10:10 PM

blue streak 1

From other threads-------------  Appears that this was a planned outage of less than an hour

 

The outage was planned for longer than an hour.

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Posted by BaltACD on Tuesday, February 25, 2020 7:58 AM

I don't know about NS.  CSX would have a scheduled Main Frame outage every Sunday morning starting at 0045 until 0200, sometimes, depending on what IT had to update Dispatching would be told that there would be a extended outage.  These shut downs affected CADS getting data from the Mainframe and CADS ability to send Train Messages to printers at crew signup locations, during the outages Train Messages would be faxed to locations by CADS.  Operationally, these shut downs weighed heaviest on the Crew Callers, as they had to revert to 'paper' lists to continue to perform their functions.

The architecture of the CADS system permitted various elements of it programs to updated 'on the fly'.  Notice would be issued through the CADS suystem that X function would not be available starting at Y time - after the update was made notice would be sent that all elements of the system were usable.  These updates were normally to applications that monitored and enforece 'book of rules' compliance in their operation. 

The lining of switches and signals was the bed rock of the CADS system - updates would be applied when implementing a new control point, eliminating a old control point or changing the configuration of a control point.  These changes could be implemented, tested and rolled back if necessary in a short period of time.

I have no idea what NS was trying to accomplish and how it failed and why it took so long to recover.

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Posted by blue streak 1 on Monday, February 24, 2020 10:19 PM

From other threads-------------  Appears that this was a planned outage of less than an hour to apparently up date the NS dispatching system.  Well as usual anytime anyone decides to update their IT system(s) they better watch out.  Murphy is hidding around the  corner.   As well interrogate the IT persons on how the update may go wrong.

The whole outage appears to have lasted just over 3 hours? We will never know for sure.  Evidently some Amtrak train dispatchers had long segments of their planned route set up so they could continue on until they finally hit a stop at a CP.  Others were not so lucky. From Amtrak listed delays Pennsylvanian and Piedmonts went along for quite a distance.  Crescent and Capitol not so.

Question to NS did chief dispatcher transmit to all dispatchers for them to set up routes as far as  possible ? 

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Posted by BaltACD on Sunday, February 23, 2020 3:21 PM

If it was planned - it was royally screwed up by all concerned.

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Posted by n012944 on Sunday, February 23, 2020 2:10 PM

SD70Dude

So, the main NS computer system crashed?

 

 

It was a planned outage.  Amtrak should have known about it.

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Posted by SD70Dude on Sunday, February 23, 2020 12:57 PM

So, the main NS computer system crashed?

Greetings from Alberta

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Posted by blue streak 1 on Sunday, February 23, 2020 12:49 PM

Apparently NS back on line.  Different trains took various delays with 29 the worse.

 
 
 
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UPDATE: Capitol Limited Train 29 which departed Washington (WAS) on 2/22 is back on the move currently operating approx. 8hr 20min late.
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
 
 
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UPDATE: Piedmont Train 74 is back on the move currently operating approx. 1hr 30min late.
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NS has shut down all Amtrak trains on their system.
Posted by blue streak 1 on Sunday, February 23, 2020 12:25 PM
This is just a partial list
 
 
 
 
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SERVICE ALERT: Due to a host railroad communication system issues trains traveling between Chicago (CHI) and New York (NYP), as well as Miami (MIA) and Washington (WAS), may experience delays
 
 
 
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Crescent Train 20 that departed New Orleans (NOL) on 2/23 is currently holding at Meridian (MEI) due to a host railroad communication system issue. We will update as more information becomes available.
 
 
 
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Cardinal Train 51 that departed New York (NYP) on 2/23 is currently stopped south of Alexandria due to a host railroad communication system issue. We will update as more information becomes available.
 
 
 
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Blue Water Train 365 is currently stopped east of Chicago (CHI) due to a host railroad communication system issue. We will update as more information becomes available.
 
 
 
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Piedmont Train 75 is currently stopped west of High Point (HPT) due to a host railroad communication system issue. We will update as more information becomes available.
 
 
 
 
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Piedmont Train 74 is currently stopped east of Salisbury (SAL) due to a host railroad communication system issue. We will update as more information becomes available.

 

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