Potential Synergies from Positive Train
Control
Bruce Patty
Vice President – Transportation Analytics
Veritec Solutions
INFORMS Conference – Phoenix
October 2012
© 2012 Veritec Solutions Incorporated. All Rights Reserved.
© 2012 Veritec Solutions Incorporated. All Rights Reserved.
Outline
 Opportunities to Leverage Information to
Generate Benefits
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-
Assessment of Potential Benefits from PTC from 6 Areas
Assumptions and Caveats
Linkages or Synergies between PTC and other systems for
some areas
 Integration
Needs
 Conclusions
© 2012 Veritec Solutions Incorporated. All Rights Reserved.
© 2012 Veritec Solutions Inc. All Rights Reserved.
2
Thanks
 My sincere appreciation to our Session
Chair, Carl Van Dyke, for providing me with
much of the background material used to
develop this presentation
© 2012 Veritec Solutions Incorporated. All Rights Reserved.
© 2012 Veritec Solutions Inc. All Rights Reserved.
3
Opportunities to Leverage Information


Line Capacity
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Theory: PTC could increase capacity by allowing trains to operate on shorter headways
-
Assumes PTC would use moving blocks or dynamic headways
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Current PTC implementation plans do not support this
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Should see line capacity improvements on over-capacitated “dark territory”
-
Diversion of funds to PTC implementation could actually reduce amount of capital available
for capacity expansion
Service Reliability
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Theory: PTC could improve reliability by reducing delays and increasing average train speeds
-
Improved service quality and reliability would allow shippers to reduce supply chain costs and
make rail service more attractive, especially for intermodal
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However, independent implementations of Precision Dispatching do not rely on PTC to
achieve this goal
-
Potential benefits here are not nearly as large as they were before railroads became so much
more reliable
© 2012 Veritec Solutions Incorporated. All Rights Reserved.
© 2012 Veritec Solutions Inc. All Rights Reserved.
4
Opportunities to Leverage Information


Efficient use of cars and locomotives
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Theory: Real time location information provided by PTC will enable railroad managers to
increase asset productivity through improved decisions
-
Dynamic car scheduling systems could use location information to re-trip cars as needed
based on updated arrival times into terminals
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Locomotive scheduling systems could use location information to update locomotive
assignments based on real time information
-
However, GPS systems on locomotives can already provide this information without PTC,
assuming that consists are linked to locomotive information
Fuel savings
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Theory: Real time information will allow dispatchers to “pace” trains between scheduled meet
points, permitting fuel savings
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Trains would not always operate at top speeds in order to reduce delays
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However, this can already be accomplished using Precision Dispatching approaches that are
not reliant upon PTC
© 2012 Veritec Solutions Incorporated. All Rights Reserved.
© 2012 Veritec Solutions Inc. All Rights Reserved.
5
Opportunities to Leverage Information


Reduction in locomotive failures
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Theory: Digital communications provided via PTC can be used to report diagnostic data on
locomotives in real time
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This would allow pre-planning of maintenance activities and warnings of impending problems
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However, “health” monitoring systems have already been installed in many modern, digital
locomotives, so this is not PTC-dependent
Improved track maintenance windows
-
Theory: Real-time accurate information on train location should increase the productivity of
track crews
-
This is needed because increased traffic density has made scheduling of maintenance more
and more difficult
-
However, six of the seven Class I railroads have developed technology so that maintenance
crews have visibility to train location information through a web application
© 2012 Veritec Solutions Incorporated. All Rights Reserved.
© 2012 Veritec Solutions Inc. All Rights Reserved.
6
Integration of Approaches can Add More Value

Many of the benefits that were originally identified with PTC or other
communication-based train control system have been realized through
the deployment of other business systems
•
•
•
•
•

Cellular networks
GPS systems mounted on locomotives
Precision dispatching
AEI
Web-based communication systems for track crews
It would appear that these approaches have been implemented in a
“piecemeal” manner to address the needs of individual railroad
departments
• Technologies need to be unified at the enterprise network so that
more can be achieved for less
© 2012 Veritec Solutions Incorporated. All Rights Reserved.
© 2012 Veritec Solutions Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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Integration of Approaches can Add More Value

What could the integration of all these approaches allow?
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
One example -- Unifying the movement planner, PTC communications system, PTC onboard
computer and display, and Train Energy Management System would allow for the
development of “dynamic trip plans”
•
For each train
•
For each car
•
For each terminal
•
For each customer
Think about what this would mean for the demand for real-time
OR tools and models to manage the railroad?
© 2012 Veritec Solutions Incorporated. All Rights Reserved.
© 2012 Veritec Solutions Inc. All Rights Reserved.
8
Conclusion

Initial assumptions about the benefits of PTC used theories that
did not take into account the proliferation of other technologies

These technologies, in general, however have not been wellintegrated into a unified structure

Linking these together provides an environment that is “target
rich” for opportunities for real-time OR tools and would take
advantage of the synergies between these various technologies
© 2012 Veritec Solutions Incorporated. All Rights Reserved.
© 2012 Veritec Solutions Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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