I was wondering if there were any companies that allow the public to view their CTC online in realtime? Since all (I would hope all) CTC systems are now computer based, and today we use the browser to interface with many systems, it would be be very easy technically to make CTC screens available to the public for viewing via the Internet.
However when you factor in security, privacy, and a whole slew of other issues, then I’m not surprised if most companies choose not to. The question is however, do you know of at least one company that allows at least a good piece of its network to be available for viewing on the Internet?..and this is in real time, not “every 5 minutes” time?
In one thread we talk about watching signals to learn if a train is coming. IMO, if this were available it would be too cool!! [:D]
After doing a little web searching, (Google is your friend), I found there is a Yahoo group called ATCS_Monitor, which is composed of people who use ATCS Monitor, which is computer software. See http://www.atcsmon.com/ lots of information. The atcsmon.com site doesn’t seem to have a download section, it appears you have to be a part of the Yahoo group to get any files.
Very interesting. We have OODIS for BNSF employees to sit around and laugh at the crew caller calling us for a train still at its originating terminal!. It even shows us trains on TWC lines as well ( granted it only updates when it passes an AEI scanner but hey)
I think you hit the nail on the head when you mentioned security and not just from terroists mind you but your common criminal as well.