This article appeared in the July/August 1993 Volume 22, Number 4 issue of Rail Classics. I deals with the operation of the Southern Pacific dispatch center in Roseville, Ca. David C. Crammer As part of its spirit that won the west concept, Southern Pacific is determined to stride into the 21st Century aboard a leaner and tighter organization that will utilize all of its potential to get the job done. The job in this case is providing an efficient and energized organization to transport freight across the country under both economical and safe conditions that benefit both the company and the customer. As part of this upgrading the company has modernized the way its trains are shunted across the country. Under the guidance of its dispatchers, to assure that everything is watched over as if from an eye in the sky, the computer network the SP employs provides an instantaneous access to all pertinent information necessary to make the type of decisions required to keep a modern rail operation on the go. Southern Pacific's Roseville dispatch center, called its Regional Transportation Center, is the product of the consolidation of previous dispatch centers in Eugene, Oregon; Tuscon, Arizona; and Los Angeles, California. Before it opened in the Fall of 1989 SP had investigated different computer systems to control the operation. Starting in the early 70's the railroad decided that computer-aided dispatching was the wave of the future and had begun to work with TRW on the San Antonio Division to upgrade their capability. By the mid-1980's, computers began to assume an even more important roll and the ability to interact from other stations with the mainframe in San Francisco allowed for real time analysis of the railroad's performance. In 1985 Digital Concepts of Monroeville, Pennsylvania introduced SP to the idea of using conventional hardware combined with customized software to increase the efficiency of its dispatchers even further. By 1986 SP decided that the package provided by Digital, called Digital Traffic Control or DigiCon, could do the job. To put together the needed customized package Digital obviously needed input from the railroad as to how Southern Pacific runs its trains. Rather than solicit input from a committee not familiar with the problems that would be faced once the system was operative SP put together a consultation group of regular dispatchers and asked them what would make the job easy for them. They told Digital how they wanted to see the system work and Digital responded with a setup that was first tested in Los Angeles in early 1988. Using easy to use displays Digital provided at an economical cost a display dispatchers could interact with off of regular computer modules. Digital also gave consent for SP to have its own inhouse flexibility to make modifications to the system though major modifications would still be handled by Digital. This flexibility concept has made for more of a partnership relationship in getting the job done and the modifications the SP can institute can be handled without having to take the system off line while they are implemented. These include changes in screen display, track location, signal location, and station names. Digital however, does handle the enhancing and upgrading of control capability and the mainframe interaction. Southern Pacific has been so pleased with this relationship that a similar system has been installed in Houston that controls the SP Eastern Region beginning at El Paso, running east to New Orleans, Louisiana, north to St Louis, Missouri, returning south to El Paso through Kansas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. The two dispatching centers control over 13,000 miles of rail. The Denver & Rio Grande Western equivalent is scheduled to go on line in the early Autumn of 1993. It will handle approximately 900 miles of CTC and 320 miles of DTC from Central Region headquarters in Denver, CO. One of the major benefits the SP acquired by going with Digital was the ease with which the whole system could simply be picked up and moved to a new location. When the new Regional Center was established in Roseville it wasn't as if massive computers had to be relocated. These remained in San Francisco at headquarters and instead the work stations were relocated. In effect dispatching stations were shifted with the ease with which some companies allow their workers to set up an in home office computer station that communicates with the office computer. How easy is it to teach the dispatchers the new system? Bill Neill, one of the eight assistant managers at the center, is responsible for training dispatchers who have come over from foreign roads as well as people new to the job. Bill started out as a telegrapher on the MKT at age 18 27 years ago and has worked for the SP for 21 years. He actually did his qualifying as a dispatcher on the Alaska Railroad and is constantly amazed at the transformation in the technology of dispatching, especially in the last seven years. In the program he runs, dispatchers from other railroads take about five days to learn the rules and how to operate the system and are then ready to go to work. New trainees go through an eight week, eight hour a day course. In an article in the Summer 1992 issue of Digital Traffic Control News he stated, "Traditionally train dispatchers were prepared for the real world in one of two ways: (1) sit with a working train dispatcher on a live territory and learn the job by replication or, (2) attend a formal class for a period of time to learn the basic rules and theories of train dispatching tasks and then sit with a working train dispatcher on a live territory to see those rules and theories applied and, again, learn the job. The use of Digital Concepts dispatching work stations in the classroom phase of instruction adds a desirable new dimension to the training process. The student has the opportunity to interact with highly realistic scenarios. The simulation of train movements presents a student with challenges that will test many different areas of ability and prepare that student to become more proficient in a shorter period of time." Since 1988 he has taught classes that have trained 60 people new to dispatching and 22 from foreign lines. Now that we have explored the background it is time to actually enter the building and see how Southern Pacific can handle the dispatching of the western third of its railroad (the ten subdivisions from Portland, Oregon to El Paso, Texas), call out the crews necessary to keep things moving, and handle the pay records for the same out of a building of only 30,000 square feet. The computers and work stations in the building receive input through a variety of modes. Fibre-optic, copper wire land lines, and microwave are utilized to connect the Roseville Center with the rest of the system as well as foreign roads they interact with such as Union Pacific, Santa Fe, Burlington Northern, and others with whom they have joint use contracts. Radio communication between the dispatchers and the trains they are directing are pinpointed by line side radio sites. Spaced approximately every 50 to 60 miles the dispatcher can utilize the touch phone screen in front of him to talk over the land line closest to the train he needs to communicate with. The distance depends upon the type of terrain since hills can interfere with VHF line of sight transmission meaning closer spacing in a mountainous or hilly region. Each square on the screen indicates a different phone or radio and the dispatcher can also monitor a particular radio which is then indicated in red on the bottom half of its square with the word "MONITOR". Frequencies not being monitored have the bottom half of their square displayed as yellow and "DISC" (disconnected) printed on it. 19 trick dispatchers ( a trick is considered an eight hour shift and trick dispatchers can only work a maximum of 9 hours in any 24 hour period) are among the 142 employees on the job 7 days a week 24 hours a day making sure the technology provided is in use. On weekends there is some consolidation in the Los Angeles area since Metro Link is not running and maintenance of way and some of the switch jobs are not operating on the system. As a result WR (Western Region) 60 and WR53 become one job and also WR49 (Sacramento to Oakland) is rolled into WR47 Roseville to Sparks, Nevada) since this area is not under the same intensity that it is during the week. Further consolidation has taken place since the center opened in 1989 because between branch line sales and abandonments there are now approximately 5,000 less miles of tracks to oversee. (In ex-Western Pacific and Union Pacific dispatcher Ken Meeker's WR41 office governing Eugene, Oregon to Portland a map is displayed with the branches in Oregon that have been sold highlighted in orange.) Territory for each dispatcher averages 375 miles in length which can vary from 572 miles (WR48 Sparks to Ogden), 54 miles (WR54 Mission to West Colton but shorter after Metro Link took over part of the territory), 210 miles (WR53 Burbank to San Luis Obispo). Work stations for each dispatcher consist of a separate room sealed off from other dispatchers to allow for concentration on their particular territory (even the clock in the room is set to the time zone of the area being dispatched). Of course should WR53 need to communicate with WR60 (Dayton Tower to Long Beach) he can call him over the phone or walk over to the other office. Dispatchers can also call up other territories on their work screen to see what is headed their way so that while waiting for the 1HOLBT02 (1st section of the Houston to Long Beach Intermodal that left Houston on the 2nd of the month) to show up on his screen WR60 can switch to WR53's screen to see its present location. Each dispatcher station is provided with an overview monitor for the displaying the territory he is in charge of, a working screen where other displays can be called up or the view of one area magnified to provide a closer inspection, the train status screen where information concerning a particular train can be displayed and/or interacted with, the phone screen displaying the areas the touch screen will contact, and the main frame access screen. Screens may be interacted with both by keyboard or by mouse (the pad for the mouse has printed on it, "DIGICON DIGITAL TRAFFIC CONTROL-TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY FOR TOMORROW"). Each individual work station has the capability to provide 3 MIPS (Million Instructions Per Second) with the Roseville Center's capability 100 MIPS. This means that a tremendous amount of information can be exchanged in the course of a day. As well as the computer monitors the individual offices feature maps of the territories they control. Some have been customized with photos of the areas or enlargements of relevant timetable pages (for instance in the office of WR60 the enlarged timetable for the San Diegans from the California Regional Railfan Guide is displayed since the SP must wait for San Diegans on Santa Fe's San Bernadino Subdivision at DT Junction and this gives the dispatcher a better handle on what to anticipate in the way of delays for trains coming across the Puente Branch. Hanging on the wall of WR51 (Mojave to Fresno) is a map of the route through Tehachapi and an enlargement of the Mojave District timetable page.) In short the office spaces have been customized by the individual dispatchers to display what they feel will help them get the job done. Prior to April 1st 1993 dispatchers were required to fill out a train sheet specific to their territory for each shift. After April 1st the computer is scheduled to provide the same information and the sheets eliminated. To find out how this works we'll do a sitdown with Richard Eggleston in the WR60 office and see how he directs the traffic around my own particular field of interest, Los Angeles and Long Beach, California. Richard originally worked on the RF&P (Richmond, Fredricksburg & Potomac) as the sole dispatcher on his shift to control the 113 miles of track on a custom CTC Board built in 1970. Having been with the SP for 1 1/2 years he has also qualified to dispatch WR50, WR51, WR52, and WR53. In the office is a map displaying the tracks Southern Pacific trains travel on in this territory. To provide an easy reminder tracks are color coded as to DTC, CTC, manual, and automatic. They are also coded as to where Rule 105 (movement other than main), Rule 93 (yard limit rules), and Rule 94 (restricted system other than yard limits) apply. The map also shows where trackage is single, multiple, and where spring switches are located. On a separate diagram the signal and maintenance of way territories are shown with each territory detailed such as, "Mr Ochoa-walker Line west SW Walker to the Balloon Track SW at Los Nietos..Also all of La Habra Branch to end of branch at Brea." This provides necessary jurisdiction information should a crew report a problem such as a broken crossing gate. At the moment on the screen the Patata Switcher (which works around Los Nietos Yard and the La Habra and Puente Branches) is showing up in red on the Walker Block. Because the screen is in an overall mode the train is simply given a reference code. In a more detailed blowup either the number of the unit or the train symbol, depending on the dispatcher's preference, shows above the red track. The route the switch crew will be taking is displayed in green and each block ends in an arrow indicating the direction the train is traveling. To get an idea of what is headed in his direction Richard calls over to Roy McRae at WR54 for a time estimate on the Memphis Blue Streak and then talks to SP2548, which is working out of Dolores, as it calls in to release the Amoco Block (Since most of this territory is under block authority the train crew must talk to the dispatcher to obtain or release authority. With the distance considerable between Roseville and Long Beach this is where those line side connections come into play). As Richard looks over his screen display he notes on the top the numbers for the police and fire departments in this area as well as the SP Police number. This is a particularly sensitive area for intermodals coming through Los Angeles to and from the harbor because of possible vandalism. Should a problem arise such as a maintenance of way crew reporting from trackside that vandals are attempting to break into containers he can alert the SP Police who may call the local departments or he can call them direct to handle the problem. In some areas the number for forestry crews is also displayed. Richard can also call up on the work screen a detailed description of trains headed for him such as the 1HOLBT02. He notes that the units consist of SP9655, SP9384, and SP7377. All three units are traveling cab forward, are in normal operating condition, and their respective horsepower is listed as 3800, 3200, and 3000. If he wishes to he can call up a detailed history of each unit along with any FRA restrictions it may have placed against it. He also sees the amount of time left for the crew to reach their destination before their work time limit expires (this is especially important in this area because one of the basic rules while traveling through this area of Los Angeles is, "DO NOT STOP A STACK TRAIN IF YOU CAN HELP IT!" which would be necessary if a crew change was mandated. Noting that a crew is nearing the limit gives the dispatcher an incentive to see what he can do to expedite things. WR60 must also deal with the Union Pacific since trains traveling on the Puente Branch to and from the harbor use the UP main line between Puente Junction on the east end and Bartolo on the west. As well as the UP the touch screen has a hotline on the radio to Metro Link and the Blue Line between Los Angeles and Long Beach since the SP track parallels the Blue Line for part of its route. Should it become necessary to issue track warrants to a crew the computer menu sends up the appropriate screen, the data is entered and the hard copy sent to the necessary destination for the crew to pick up. The dispatcher can also create a train on his board entering the necessary data such as train ID#, direction E/W, maximum speed, units, facing, horsepower, comments, status, and code. As well the computer asks for the engineer, on duty time, loads, empties, tons, total horsepower, and length. If the units are Southern Pacific the computer automatically makes the designation such as SP9633 however, on foreign units the dispatcher must make the entry such as the UP for UP3533. The computer also automatically figures the length of time the crew may remain on duty so that punching in an on duty time of 1030A automatically receives a response of off duty 1030P. These messages are automatically interfaced with the SP's mainframe computer TOPS (Total Operations Processing System). Whenever a crew change or train related event is entered on the network TOPS assures that the information is available to anyone using the system. TOPS also monitors train performance so that trains on time or early are coded as green, yellow if ten minutes late or less, and red if the train is more than ten minutes late. This coding allows the dispatchers to make more educated decisions as to how to route a particular train in regards to its arrival time. On a good day everything flows with at least one train all the time rolling along with no stops. On the screen white indicates unoccupied track, green the prospective route, red where the train is at present, blue track for maintenance of way, and purple (mix of red and blue) where maintenance of way and a train are occupying the same block under joint use warrant. A phone check every six hours reveals the weather conditions in the LA Basin (during the drought this was pretty boring but with the current monsoon conditions has become more interesting) and every four hours an updated printout is received on all of the trains headed for Los Angeles. The information provided includes the Train, ID#, present location, destination, and any setouts enroute. Should a chief dispatcher wish to review an event such as train delay from any time within the past week he can utilize Digital's Data Logger Replay. It allows a replay of what took place and can speed the time up to 300 times to allow an effective analysis of performance. This system capability can also be used by student dispatchers to analyze how actual problems have been handled previously. As we leave Richard at WR60 Engineer Cranford on SP4832 (one of the switch engines at ICTF) has asked for and been granted, "work and time three blocks Compton, Patata, and Vernon until 1PM." He is going out to "K" Yard to pick up some empty double stack flats for ICTF. The Anaheim Hauler is just starting to double out of Industry Yard and will show up as red on the screen. The Patata is still showing in red on the block it is occupying and a crew headed out of LA with a double stack is about to pass Redondo Tower and must get to Dolores by three before the crew runs out of time. In Los Angeles the weather is sunny and mild with temperatures in the mid 60's. In Roseville it is about the same and in the distance you can see the snowcapped Sierra Mountains as a strip of blue topped with white. As WR60 continues to run its trains, in the center of the dispatch complex are the offices of the Chief Dispatcher who oversees the operation and the Power Chief who is in charge of seeing that there are enough locomotives available for the dispatchers to dispatch. But SD40T2's toiling through snow sheds, GP60's racing across the plains, and SW1500's moving cars in the yards are not all that makes up a railroad and that is the reason that there are other functions at the center than just dispatching. As the dispatchers are monitoring their territories in their work stations another group of men and women at the center are making sure that there are people available to crew those trains represented by the numbers over red lines. Using what is called CCATS (Crew Calling and Time Keeping System) they handle the former Western Region (the Pacific Region, 90% of the South West Region, and 50% of the Rocky Mountain Region to Ogden, Utah). Aware of the potential hazard caused by lack of adequate rest the Southern Pacific has implemented a system that may be used by the individual crew member to anticipate up to 48 hours in advance what trains they will be standing for. The makeup of trains in coordinated with the crew list to assure the crew member understands his or her position in the lineup and this service is updated every four hours. By calling in, the approximate time out is given such as, "You are standing _______out." or "you stand for ________ train." When the actual assignment is made the crew member is notified usually 1 1/2 hours in advance though this can vary depending on the job to 2 or 2 1/2 hours. 18 crew dispatchers per shift work around the clock to make sure trains have the needed crews and work under the supervision of Manager of Crew Dispatching Jerry Ellis. Each crew caller handles between 200 to 400 men and women. They coordinate with the lineup provided through TOPS and the DVX (Digital Voice Exchange) phone system. Their main job is to obtain crews for through freight (operating between point A to point B), local freight (steady assignment for customers), road switchers ( service between two points switching everything needed between point A and point B), and yard jobs. They also handle crewing the work trains on an as needed basis. Using the computer system to track people and an auto dialer they call trainmen (conductor or brakemen), enginemen (engineer or fireman), switchmen, hostlers, and yardmasters. The caller makes sure the crewmember knows the train ID, on duty time, any comments of an out of the ordinary nature, and the approximate time out. All phone transactions are documented to settle such disputes as the time called and each entered in the computer. The computer system is designed to tie up individuals, handle layoffs (for instance calling in sick is called laying off), markups (when laid off), and vacations. Last but not least we have the people who are dear to the heart of all railroaders. The crew may curse the dispatcher who holds them at a siding for hours at a stretch. They may spout fire at the crew caller who rings them in the middle of the night to say that even though it is below freezing and a blizzard is blowing they still have to be on the train to go over Donner Pass in an hour and a half. But a different relationship exists with the person who charts the hours that figure the paychecks and accesses the same computers that record all of the other information. This person above all others is to be cherished (unless of course they forgot to mark in that last trip I made). These also operate out of the Roseville Regional Transportation Center. As dispatch centers go it is not a huge monolith, it does not have to be. Southern Pacific and Digital Concepts have combined to create a compact work place. As Bill Neill stated in 1992, "Efficiency and economy of operation, are after all, directly proportional to train dispatch ability." At the time he was speaking of Digital and SP's training program but in actuality it speaks for SP's commitment to get the job done. I wish to thank Bill Neill, Richard Eggleston, Dave Sorenson, Jerry Ellis, and Carolyn Born for their help in preparing this article.