Track Warrants vs Track Permits vs Track Bulletins

[Gluefinger]

On the Union Pacific Milwaukee Sub near my house, trains are normally dispatched using track warrants. When a work crew is in effect, a track bulletin is issued as well. Sometimes, however, I hear a track permit. How is this different than the other two?

[Anonymous]

It all lies in the General Code of Operating Rules. Bear with me, I'm gonna dig up what I can get, straight from the horse's mouth...

My copy of Union Pacific System Timetable No. 2, Effective 0001 Sunday October 29,1995, shows ABS-TWC from CP N030 to N080, MP 29.7 - MP 80.1, and from N097 to N012, MP 97.8 - 101.5. Straight TWC is used from there to the end of UP's portion of the subdivision, MP 159.3.

GCOR, Third Edition, Effective - April 10, 1994, says that TWC is "A method to authorize train movements or protect men or machines on a main track within specified limits in a territory designated by the timetable.

A Track Bulletin is "A notice of conditions affecting train movement. It may also authorize movement against the current of traffic where Rule 9.14 (Movement with the Current of Traffic) is in effect." According to this timetable, there is no current of traffic on any portions of the Milwaukee Sub, so Rule 9.14 is irrelevant to the situation. Track bulletins are issued per subdivision, and there are two forms: Form A, which authorizes the display of yellow flags, to warn of temporary slow speed; and Form B, which authorizes the display of yellow-red flags to protect men and equipment.

Track Permits, I'd have to dig for. Maybe they're required for workmen and equipment to occupy main the track where ABS is in effect without TWC?

[edblysard]

A track bulletin informs crews of track conditions, slow orders, close clearences, and includes forms B and form A , things like that.

A track permit grants permission to occupy a portion of the railroad for a given period of time.

To quote the GCOR..
Rule 9.15

Track Permits

On track designated in the timetable, a track permit will authorize a train, track car, machine, or employee to occupy the main or tracks between specific points.
The track permit must be issued by a designated control operator under the direction of the train dispatcher.
Within these limits, movement may be made in either direction without flag protection.

In other words, if you have a track permit that allows you to perform, say, switching duties between mile post 100 and milepost 105, you "own" that section of railroad until you release it back to the dispatcher.

Warrants convey authority for a train to move on the main, under conditions governed and specified by the track bulletin, between two given points as specified in the warrant.
Warrants must specify direction of movement, from point "A" to point "B" to point "C"...so forth and contain any bulletins that affect movement within the limits of the warrant.

Say I am a MOW foreman, and have a track permit that covers a two mile section of main track that I am replacing ties on.

Any train wishing to enter the section I have a permit for must first, in accordance with form B in their track bulletins, contact me, and get my permission to occupy "my" section of track, moving under the restricted speed rule.
Dispatchers my not overide my permit, the track is mine, until I release my permit back to the dispatcher.

Bullentins advise of conditions,
warrants grant authority to occupy main between given points,
permits grant authority and protection between two given points.

Some where in here, Mr Hemphill will jump in, I am sure, as he has been a dispatcher before, and can offer a more concise explaination.

Ed

[Anonymous]

Where on the Milwaukee Sub do you live? I'm about a mile south of DeVal

[Gluefinger]

Ah ok, thanks a bunch guys. I'm guessing I heard the permits on CP's C&M Sub or possibly the Kenosha Sub? I thought that i haveheard them on Milwaukee but i'm guessing that is not the case.

PS I live in Kenosha, WI

[tree68]

I don't have the NORAC rules, but the CSX line through my area issues "Form D's" for track occupancy for both trains and maintenance. Through trains get the track in one direction between block points, which may be just one, or "the whole railroad," depending on other traffic. Locals may get "both directions" if they are working with a block, but will will get only one direction for longer distances. When they come home, it's under a different "Form D."

If the DS is giving track to a train in small sections (ie, following another train), he (or she) will issue an "add on" to an existing Form D, rather than a new one.

If a maint foreman wants the track, he gets a "track out of service" Form D, and trains that wi***o pass through that block have to contact him, as outlined above. I have heard the DS relay permission if the foreman is out of range of the train when they will enter his block, but the foreman is still in charge.

I also regularly hear crews call in to cancel their Form D when they are clear of the main (as onto a branch, or in the home yard).

[mountaingirl87]

Ed, I have a quick question for you. Industial uses often use trains to deliver hazardous materials. Asking for a friend** If an industrial faciltiy is set up to recieve haz mat via rail, and becuase of supply and demand is forced to recieve truck deliveries could a tanker truck traverse an industrial rail spur to "off load" the haz mats? There is a passenger rail track next to the spur. What would an industrial facility need to do to to safely carry out the off loading? Would the RR need to be notified? Are spur lines regulated differently than main lines? 

[cv_acr]

This is an *18 years* old thread...

[BaltACD]

mountaingirl87

Ed, I have a quick question for you. Industial uses often use trains to deliver hazardous materials. Asking for a friend** If an industrial faciltiy is set up to recieve haz mat via rail, and becuase of supply and demand is forced to recieve truck deliveries could a tanker truck traverse an industrial rail spur to "off load" the haz mats? There is a passenger rail track next to the spur. What would an industrial facility need to do to to safely carry out the off loading? Would the RR need to be notified? Are spur lines regulated differently than main lines? 

Ed passed on several years ago.

A HAZMAT industry will be, in most all instances, behind a fenced enclosure with a gate across the track(s) that enter the industry.  Railroad crews will normally have to contact someone from the industry to unlock the gate and let the crew in the plant.

The lead into a industry is owned by that industry from the clearance point of the switch with the railroad.  What the industry does with the trackage that it owns vis a vie letting trucks move on it - is totally within the industry's purview.  The industry should be smart enough not to let a railroad engine and crew to occupy the same segment of track at the same time as they have a truck occupying the same track segment within their plant.

[zugmann]

BaltACD

The industry should be smart enough not to let a railroad engine and crew to occupy the same segment of track at the same time as they have a truck occupying the same track segment within their plant.

Two words: Restricted Speed.

[mudchicken]

Tacking onto Balt & Zugs comments:

(1) Blue Flag rule

(2) Derail protection (Lock-out/ Tag Out private lock probably on top of a)

(3) Any hazmat transfer site is most likely equipped with additional protection (see EPA, OSHA, FRA & PHMSA rules depending on the product transloaded) that will usually include track pans, hoods, special grounding, pits etc. where truck vs train unloading create incompatible conditions. (Typical case: Trucks destroy fiberglass track pans).... Local permitting inside the plant comes into play as well (permitted use often spells out type of vehicle) ...

Typical first to be cited for hazmat/environmental non-compliance are the agridummies.

As posted, you really don't have enough stated to form a plausible answer.