How does Julie Know?

Trains Magazine Passenger
1

Wanna know the status of a particular train? Ask Julie! Give the computer, which is masquerading as Julie, the train number, station, and date, and she (it) will tell you a train’s status, i.e. the time of scheduled arrival or departure for the station, whether the train is on-time, or if it is not the expected arrival time. In a worse case scenario, as happened to the Texas Eagle this week, the caller is switched to a customer representative for a status report. In the case of the Eagle, it had been suspended south of Fort Worth due to an accident. As far as I can determine, it was a hoist railroad accident that did not involve the Eagle.

How does the computer know where the train is in relation to the next station and whether it is running on time. I can think of two ways. The locomotive is equipped with GPS capability and reports periodically its location, including the train number, to the operations center computer, which also hoists Julie, that reports the status of the train to the caller. Or one of the crew members uses a cell phone to report the departure from a station, and the information is fed into the computer, which adjusts the arrival and departure times up or down the line.

Any information or thoughts on how Julie works?

2

Of course Amtrak keeps track of where it’s trains are and when. Every railroad does. They use a new fangled gadget that a guy named Marconi invented.

3

Presumably by new fangled gadget you mean a wireless radio. If Amtrak uses radio-telephones or cell phones, it means that a crew member or a station agent has to call the operations center and let them know how the train is progressing, whereas with GPS the information would be available in a nano-second.

Anyone know whether Amtrak’s locomotives are equipped with GPS capability?

4

I’d be surprised if most of the location information isn’t based on AEI data automatically forwarded by the host railroad to Amtrak. All North American freight cars (and presumably other rolling stock) have these RR specific RFID tags.

The AEI data could be supplemented by other ‘position reports’ called in by crews as time / radio coverage permits. Perhaps someone can comment on the typical spacing / location of AEI readers.

AFAIK Amtrak doesn’t have satellite radios to voice call or transmit GPS data to Operations HQ directly. Cell phone coverage is sparse in mountainous areas or away from major highways and cities. Host RR channels are usually limited to communications with dispatchers.