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What is a Track Warrant?

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Posted by edblysard on Monday, December 16, 2002 12:28 AM
Just bang em till their ears bleed...

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Posted by edblysard on Monday, December 16, 2002 12:31 AM
Sounds like youv'e have your share of it too!
What positon did you retire at? Sounds like you went pretty far, or were above average intelligence. Keep it coming,
Ed

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Posted by Anonymous on Monday, December 16, 2002 1:39 PM
Ed, we all had our share! It started in the first week as a cub fireman and ended on my last day. On the two days prior to my last, I was out of town and got a weather reroute home. Got home a little after midnight. On the last day, I got to work at 7:15 am for the regular morning conference call and didn't leave until 6:15 that evening. So much for half days on your last day, but I wouldn't have had it any other way! Ed, somewhere in these posts, you gave Tim your e-mail. Would you mind if I contacted you there?
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Posted by edblysard on Monday, December 16, 2002 4:29 PM
Go right ahead, its renaissance-man@sbcglobal.net.

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Posted by geomodelrailroader on Wednesday, October 18, 2017 11:24 PM

A track warrent is written instructions or orders over the radio allowing a train to occupy that section of track. This has since been replaced by Directional Travel, Automatic Block Signaling, CTC, and PTC signaling but it is still used in dark territory and on branch lines. 

Tags: signaling.
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Posted by mudchicken on Thursday, October 19, 2017 1:15 AM

geomodelrailroader

A track warrent is written instructions or orders over the radio allowing a train to occupy that section of track. This has since been replaced by Directional Travel, Automatic Block Signaling, CTC, and PTC signaling but it is still used in dark territory and on branch lines. 

 

Besides being 15 years late, you just failed a rules exam with that poor grasp of what a track warrant is. Go back and study some more to see what makes that statement wrong.

Mudchicken Nothing is worth taking the risk of losing a life over. Come home tonight in the same condition that you left home this morning in. Safety begins with ME.... cinscocom-west
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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Thursday, October 19, 2017 7:17 AM

I'm not a railroader but I'll venture a guess.  Track Warrants are an operating system using a standardized form authorizing track occupancy which is completed in accordance with instructions from the dispatcher.  Automatic block signals are a safety overlay that indicate track occupancy but do not authorize it.  Directional travel involves a general assignment of train movement over two roughly parallel lines and does not assign occupancy.

I doubt that I got a passing grade.Whistling

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Posted by jeffhergert on Thursday, October 19, 2017 11:22 AM

Track Warrant Control is a method to authorize train movements or protect men or machines on a main track within specified limits in a territory designated in the timetable.  Where TWC is in effect, there may or may not be automatic block signals in effect.  

Track warrants are also used to deliver track bulletins to trains, even where TWC is not in effect.  This type of warrant lists all track bulletins in effect on the subdivisions the train might operate on.  This warrant also has the "other specific instructions" box marked and instructs that the warrant only delivers the bulletins and does not authorize use of the main track.   

Jeff

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Posted by dehusman on Thursday, October 19, 2017 7:07 PM

I like Jeff's description of track warrants.  Its used to grant authority on the main track where authorized by the timetable.

Engineers have a nationwide license, but they have to be qualified on the rules of the railroad on which they operate.  Not all railroads use the same rule book and even those using the same rule book have very different sets of special instructions that modify the rules based on the the policies of that railroad.

Not all railroads use track warrants, the NORAC (north east US) use "Form D" and Canadian roads use OCS.  All are very similar, but not exactly the same.

Not all railroads use the same track warrant form.  The UP has changed its track warrant several times since 1985, the latest a couple years ago, where the items on the warrant were rearranged in their order on the page, to put the most restrictive stuff first.

Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com

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Posted by tree68 on Thursday, October 19, 2017 8:49 PM

dehusman
Not all railroads use track warrants, the NORAC (north east US) use "Form D" and Canadian roads use OCS.  All are very similar, but not exactly the same.

Living near some dark territory on CSX, I hear a lot of their "EC-1," and I've copied a lot of NORAC Form D's.  As noted, the information is basically the same, only the lines are changed.  

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Posted by BaltACD on Thursday, October 19, 2017 9:04 PM

tree68
 
dehusman
Not all railroads use track warrants, the NORAC (north east US) use "Form D" and Canadian roads use OCS.  All are very similar, but not exactly the same. 

Living near some dark territory on CSX, I hear a lot of their "EC-1," and I've copied a lot of NORAC Form D's.  As noted, the information is basically the same, only the lines are changed.  

EC-1 is the CSX form that is used to copy a variety of 'Mandatory Directives' from the Train Dispatcher which also includes Track Warrant information when necessary.

EC-1's are used to communicate Slow Orders, Change of Status of Defect Detectors, Crossings that need 'manual' protection, Do No Pass orders and virtually any other happening that restricts the operation of a train.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by SD70M-2Dude on Thursday, October 19, 2017 9:10 PM

dehusman

Not all railroads use track warrants, the NORAC (north east US) use "Form D" and Canadian roads use OCS.  All are very similar, but not exactly the same.

In Canada the term "track warrant" refers to a written authority in CTC-signalled territory, when the RTC needs to give a train further intructions the signals alone cannot.

Some examples would be authority to pass a Stop Signal, permission to manually operate a power (dual-control) switch, or "work" (move in both directions as required) within specified limits.

We simply call a Occupancy Control System (dark territory) authority a Clearance. 

Greetings from Alberta

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