Where is the dispatcher?

[Anonymous]

I always hear engineers talking with dispatchers over the radio, but I have no idea where the dispatchers are. Are they at a local railroad office somewhere along the line? Anybody can tell? Thanks!

Karn[:)]

[MP173]

Mark:

Thanks for the info. I listen in on the CN's operations here in Northwest Indiana on the old GTW and it is dispatched from Troy, Mi. I have heard the same voices for years.

In your opinion, what is the biggest challenge of dispatching? Has the technology made it easier or more difficult? Can a CSX dispatcher in J'ville relate to the mainline from Garrett to Chicago, being 1000 miles away?

A few years ago I spent the night in Beardstown, Il. and went down to the BNSF yard and chatted with the clerk. There was a TV monitor of the BNSF bridge over Illinois River and I asked if he controlled it. No, he commented, it was controlled from Texas, but the Coast Guard made them keep an eye on it locally....just in case. The dispatcher had dropped the bridge in front of a barge, legend has it, at one time.

Is dispatching a stressful job or has the communication and technology made it less so?

What , in your opinion is the best dispatching simulator software out there today?

Thanks, as usual for your reply, and while others have stated it, I certainly appreciate your efforts the past four years. I believe Trains got back to the level that DPM had it at under your helm. And that, is meant to be a compliment, a huge one! That article on Rio Grande commondities was great, as was the two part series on yards....I can go on.

I would have liked to have seen an article, or probably a series on how railroads market, and then operate their "boxcar" business. I was in the LTL trucking business for years and found that a fascinating operation....carload freight is similar.

Anyway, I ramble, time to get to work.

MP173

[eolafan]

This has always been a source of amazment to me. I will be sitting in my car at the BNSF Eola yard in Aurora, IL and be listening to the "East End" dispatcher who is actually in Ft. Worth, TX and he/she will sound like they are in a building right next to me. Same thing with UP and the dispatchers in Omaha, NE. I have had the pleasure of visiting the Harriman dispatch center for UP in Omaha once and found it to be unbelievable and facinating.

[dknelson]

Can I add to Eolafan's remark -- yes the volume and clarity of the transmissions at Eola Yard make it sound like the DS is in the next building -- but there is no mistaking those twangy Texas accents for someone from northern Illinois!
Dave Nelson

[mudchicken]

( But a lot of these DS's familiarity with the territory they control leaves much to be desired. .......and their priorities driven by the "suits across the hall" is not helping things either. Railroads continue to get phone calls from Joe Public complainining about watching track gangs sitting around all day in the siding "goofing off".[(-D][(-D][(-D] If they only knew the problem is not with the track gangs as much as it is the operating folks, dispatchers, etc. that are not communicating or thinking ahead.)

Centralizing the dispatcher functions in many cases was not a good move. The beancounters and the business administration efficiency clowns can't see the whole picture and do not savvy intrinsic worth. The savings in one area does not even begin to equal the losses generated in the others affected by the centralization fad.

[banghead][banghead][banghead]

[dehusman]

Centralized dispatching also has advantages.

It reduces the tendency for each little office to become its own "kingdom".
It allows a more consistant interpretation of the rules. Back when there were multiple offices it was very common for a rule to be interpreted one way of permission granted one way on one office's territory and another way on the adjoining terriroty.
It allows better support staff functions that can advise or warn of problems or how proposed operations will affect a particular commodity group or customer.
It allows more flexible staffing. More flexibility to cover vacations, retirements, off days, sickness, etc.

Dave H.

[Big_Boy_4005]

Gee Mark, all that makes magazine editing sound relaxing.[swg] I know, don't get you started.[banghead][(-D][:-,][sigh][;)]

[athelney]

THe CN dispatcher that controls this part of the west coast is located in Edmonton, Alberta. He always states the fact when dealing with trains -- I notice too that one particular RTC as there know here, is on a first name basis with practically all the Mow and train staff which suggests he has been at it for a while. They all razz him sometime but he seems to be able to keep things running.

[mudchicken]

QUOTE: Originally posted by M.W. Hemphill

Mud: Knowing the territory is the essential of the business. Period, no substitute. Don't blame the dispatcher; it's the railroad's job to get him or her out there, and it's costly, so they try to avoid it. Many of the dispatchers I know use their days off or vacation to ride their territory.

Centralization is a siren song for modern corporations. It gives them the illusion of control.

Implied in Centralization is the fact that the dispatchers territory got larger (as in big, unwieldy stinkin HUGE) leaving the DS scrambling 100% of the time as you mentioned. This "efficiency improvement" did almost as much harm as good.BNSF & UP both have this problem (BNSF has the worst of that from my experience out west)...part of the DS's responsibility is to keep the railroad fluid, not just the prize toys of the operating department. It wasn't that long ago that BNSF wound up doubling (& tripling)the numbers of track supervisors/ motor track inspectors and reducing inspection territories under pressure of major fines by FRA due to the DS's being swamped with no time for maintenance people or track inspectors. More than a few roadmasters took main tracks out of service so they could inspect track to meet FRA 213 priority requirements which started small wars between the track and operating folks in high places[:(]. UPRR had a similar problem, though not as dramatic ...

My hat is off to those who did familiarization trips on their own dime. I encountered far too many that were never out on the high iron ever. (Almost as bad as when Guilford hired Dispatchers with model railroad experience and nothing else in the 1980's)

Mud.[}:)][}:)][}:)]

[MP173]

Kinda makes me glad I got those rejection letters from railroads back in 1977. My life turned out ok!

Not too many happy railroaders around. It has to be a pretty tough job. Kinda seems like the military.

MP173

[Anonymous]

I bet I know one of the biggest pet peeves of dispatchers.... engineers who tell a dispatcher how to run trains. I sit next to some of the old heads and they'll get on the radio telling the dispatcher what train should take the siding, etc. Sometimes, I think the engineers make good calls because we can see what's going on, whereas the dispatcher can only use his/her imagination. I am interested in dispatching, but the thought of dozens of calls, orders, etc pounding me at the same time raises my blood pressure just thinking about it.
Ironically, I used to manage fast food and dispatching and fast food management have a lot in common. You have the ultimate responsibility with a limited amount of control. You have three different customers complaining, the drive thru is backed up, two of your closing shift employees called off five mintues before they were supposed to show up, there's not enough roast beef cooking, etc. This is when I have an out of body experience and I go into hyperdrive. I just knock off one thing at a time and plow through everything until the peace and quiet returns if even for only a moment. One advantage was that time went fast. I was done and out of work before I knew it. Anyways, this is just my [2c].

[BaltACD]

The Dispatcher is the ultimate Wizard of Time & Space!

Trains occupy moving space....a 9000 foot train will ALWAYS occupy 9000 feet. The dispacters job is to continually juggle open space ahead of all the trains on his territory in order from the to complete their runs withing the Hours of Service Law requirements, meanwhile applying the carriers often conflicting order of priorities so that the Priority Trains are given priority handling to maintain their schedule. During the daylight hours this juggling is further compounded by roadway and signal personnel needing track time in order to perform necessary maintenance and inspections to the track, right of way and signal system....thus increasing the demand for space on the railroad without increasing the time.....as there are still 60 minutes in an hour and 24 hours in a day. That is dispatching at it's most elemental level, without the intrusion of reality.

Reality intrudes with all the 'unusual occuences' that Mark Hemphill has mentioned in his posts to this thread and a thousand more that he has fogotten or missed having occured on his watch. All of those occurences have to reacted to and then have an action plane formulated, on the fly, to have the unusual occurence properly accounted for with the operations of all the other trains that are running on your territory. The seemingly innocous UDE (un-desired emergence applicion of the brakes) can lead to hudereds of different situations....a 'touch' air brake valve that initiated the applicaion that resets itself in the process of reseting the braking system and tthe train is moving again with minimun delay, air hoses parted between two cars (of course they are 8900 feet into the 9000 foot rain that can only be inspected from the head end, since the caboose and the rear end crew have gone the way of the steam engine). Maybe the cause is the drawhead (coupler assembly) being pulled out of a car (was it pulled out of the right or wrong end of the car ((right end - the crew can set the car out without the need for a chain to move the defective car). Of course this presents the next question...did the drawhead hit the gournd and pass under the trail portion of the train? is the drawhead still coupled to the adjoining car and is it hanging there in 'space'. While all this is taking place...the clock ticks and the balance of the terrirory continues in motion.

Railroad run at the absolute worst when the are running in a RACTIVE mode. To run an efficient railroad the dispatcher is anticipating his time/space continuium four to twelve hours into the future so as to have the correct resource in place when it is needed. When railroad devolve into levels of poor service the primary reason is that the entire system has become reactive. Scheduled trains are nowhere near their scheduled time slots, the local switchers that are scheduled to service the customers during certain windows that are formed by the near on time operating plan cant't do theire jobs because thier windows of opportunity don't occur and with this the snowball fo inefficency begins to roll down the slippery slope to operational chaos.

For good or bad, Centralized dipatching is the only way to have a railroad marching to the same drummer, as the individual dispatching offices (and divisions for that matter) become their own separate little worlds and perform the 'same things' in different ways that can lead to serious mistakes by any personnel that operate over those lines of territorial demarkation. Centrailization leads to dipatcher that operate into the 'division pont' actually discussing how to move traffic through that point....not just saying 'I got it there, you handle it.' as frequently happens with separated offices

Dispatching is by turns, one of the most rewarding and frustrating career options within the rail industry .

[BaltACD]

I'll add one more witicism....

Any idiot can line a signal.....a Train Dispatcher knows when NOT to line a signal!

Some T&E personnel that have taken the time to visit a dispatch center while on their vacations and view the work location for the territory they operate on, meet some of the dispatchers for their territory generally leave with a whole lot more insight and understanding of what it takes to make a territory perform. Train Dispatching is not an exact science, there is a lot of 'art' and 'artistry' involved with strategically handling the trains withing the limitations of the physical plant, psychologically working with T&E crews and roadway and signal personnel to achieve the best possible outcome for your tour of duty and to leave a territory that is set up for your relief.

[Anonymous]

Well..... Perhaps more intense than I thought, I appreciate all the insight because it helps me make a very important decision in my life. I am very strongly considering applying to be a dispatcher. Like Mark said, I may not have what it takes, but then again you never know. I find the idea of a running a railroad very drawing and I feel like I just have to find out. I've been told if I can't handle it I can always flow back as a conductor.

Mark,

You being a former dispatcher, I intended no harm in my statement, but only wanted to see if any of my past experience in a hectic environment may help me if I ever became a dispatcher. I have a college degree... B.S. in Geography with a specialty in urban studies. Many railroaders have joked with me saying "No wonder you work on the railroad!" I know a bachelors can help me get my foot in the door and I've been told by supervisors in CSX that I should be a dispatcher. I'm not sure how they came up with that conclusion by talking to me..... Anyways I enjoy all the stories about dispatching and I will use them to help me make a decision about dispatching.

[jeaton]

Mark, Aside from having all the railroad that would fit in the ROW, any ideas about what, technology or whatever would make the process a little easier?

Jay

[Modelcar]

I've been reading all the above posts about Dispatching and all it's complications and responsibilities, etc.....With all it demands on an individual for his each and every 8 hrs. on the shift...I'm wondering how the railroads find enough good men to really stick with such a demanding and perhaps dangerous to one's health job...?? One question, does the pay equal the enormous responsibility on the individual..?

[jeaton]

Mark-Those make sense.

1. Wouldn't say that the work is comparable, but where are the wages compared say to air traffic control jobs and is the money less than for road jobs.

2. Got that. Maybe both distance AND the number of trains on the desk. Come to think about, if someone in a different city called me and said I'm getting in the car now, figure out the nearest rest stop to meet me halfway, I'd be ten minutes to solve the problem.

3. Obvious.

At least not this year.

[tree68]

On the original question - I'm sure there's a rhyme and reason, but it does amaze me that the CSX NE and ND dispatcher (St Lawrence Sub and Chicago Line in eastern NY, respectively, and usually the same warm body) is located in Selkirk, but the AX and BX, covering SE Michigan, are in Jax....

[Anonymous]

I was a train dispatcher trainee on New Jersey Transit for most of 2002. While I was employed by NJT we were all located in an office at Hoboken Terminal in Hoboken, NJ. I now believe that they've moved out to Kearny, NJ to NJT's rail maintenance complex.

Having the dispatchers in one location seemed to work for NJT. As for the dispatchers being familiar with territories they dispatched, NJT required that each dispatcher be territory-qualified. This happened after you passed your NORAC rules test. You'd be quizzed orally and via a written test on the physical characteristics of your territory. You learned the territory by cab rides, hi-rail rides, and driving/walking along the ROW.

Radio communications wasn't a problem. It was repeater-based and we had the capability to activate a specific repeater(s) to reach a train in a specific location.

Unfortunately I'm no longer employed by the railroad. It was both the absolute best AND worst job experience of my working life. I won't go into detail about it here, I'll just say that I was fortunate to get my former job back as an emergency services dispatcher, something I'd been doing for 11 years prior to hiring out on NJT.

Although I'm glad I took the chance, some times it's better if we don't get to achieve our dream.

The good thing is that it hasn't affected my love of trains and railfanning/modeling negatively. If anything, it has helped it since I now know how things work on the inside. It helps me understand what I see and hear trackside and allows me to operate my layout more realistically.

[mvlandsw]

QUOTE: Originally posted by dehusman

Centralized dispatching also has advantages.

More flexibility to cover vacations, retirements, off days, sickness, etc.

Dave H.

Greater likelyhood of working a territory with which you are not familiar.

[daveklepper]

A very interesting thread, full of information to better understanding.

[Anonymous]

Regarding the partial de-centralization of dispatch centers (addition to MWH's good response), UP also has a regional center located in the JR Davis yard office in Roseville, CA. This dispatcher, known as DS-57, controls territories in and around the Scaramento Area (former WP and SP lines), and the frequency is 160.875 (AAR 51).

[eolafan]

Dave, yes, you are certainly right on about their Texas twang. I most often hear the "East End Dispatcher from about noon to three in the afternoon and it is often a (seems to be) nice lady who I believe is named Candace (sp?). She is really a professional at her job and interacts with the crews very well. If she is reading this, NICE JOB CANDACE!

QUOTE: Originally posted by dknelson

Can I add to Eolafan's remark -- yes the volume and clarity of the transmissions at Eola Yard make it sound like the DS is in the next building -- but there is no mistaking those twangy Texas accents for someone from northern Illinois!
Dave Nelson

[railfan619]

WHen Iam listening to my scanner sometimes I can here the amtrak cprail dispatcher
talking to the trains that are about to cross the KK river bridge or crossing over 1st street
coming into the station.

[Anonymous]

Greetings from Indianapolis. :) Let me know if I can anser any questions.

[MP173]

CSX Dispatcher:

What lines do you dispatch? If it is Indy - St Louis line then where do the crews change on the run thrus with UP? Do the CSX crews run thru to Salem? Or do the crews change at St. Elmo or Altamont or wherever the interchange is made?

Also, does CSX and CN still interchange trains at Effingham?

thanks

MP173

[Anonymous]

CSX Dispatcher,

Any chance Indy or Jacksonville is doing any hiring in the near future??? I've decided to committ myself if there is ever another opening and it give it a go. Oh, do you work at the same office as the IB dispatcher, I talk to him/her about every two weeks when I work on V500 near Paris, IL, I have to call and get DTC blocks.

[Anonymous]

Mr. Hemphill, Yes our office is still downtown from union station.

MP173, I dispatch the Indianapolis Line (ID), Toledo Branch (IE), Columbus Line (IF), Cleveland Terminal (IG), and Cleveland East (IH) lines. As far as the St Louis Line goes im not really positive. I know our csx crews go to Salem then change. About the Effingham Im not really positive about the cn change there.

n_stephenson, Yes they are suppose to be hiring about 7 or so dispatchers in the indianapolis office here shortly. I believe they are putting off the hiring for just a little while becuase we are going through rules changes and also they are changing the way we dispatch trains. Yes I work with the (IB) Indianapolis terminal here in our office.
I was also reading one of your previous posts and my biggest petpeve is a train crew asking. On a mainline no less "Is this my signal?" my response "no, its for the train behind you" LOL. It just creeps me out when they ask that.

www.train-dispatchers.com <---basically csx dispatchers fighting.

[Anonymous]

let me know if any of you have any more questions.

[Anonymous]

Re: Centralization & Bean Counters.

I majored in Acctg. & passed the CPA exam but stayed in
computers because I couldn't stand the cut in pay to enter
public accounting.

They teach Bottom Line Fixation in nearly every accounting course,
and that the fastest way to improve it is to cut expenses, and the
quickest way to do that is to reduce labor costs.

The businessman/entrepreneur will work to increase the top line,
Gross Revenue, knowing that this will result in better long term results.

Re: Computers

Been working with computers for 40+ years in nearly every capacity.
They are very good at one thing; Accumulating lots of information,
manipulating it, and presenting it in an easy to understand manner.
They are not good at making decisions as they can only handle
the information they have been programmed to accept. I'm sure that
all the DSes have run into things they wouldn't have imagined in their worst nightmare but managed to handle it and work around it and keep the trains running.
Computers can't do that.

Good Luck!