04-28-2012, 06:57 AM
FCIN Wrote:Main Thing: Keep all radio transmissions as brief as possible while still getting out the important information and always be sure that you're talking to the right people and everyone involved has a clear understanding of what is to be done. Over the years, there have been some serious accidents in the industry when a dispatcher or operator thought they were talking to one train and it was actually another one!
In all likelihood, if your crew is working on a main track where through freights run, you'd have given them a Track Warrant or Work Authority with specific time and limits to occupy the main at that location and they must report clear of those limits on or before the specified time.
This is pretty much how we use dispatching at <!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.hotrak.ca">www.hotrak.ca</a><!-- w -->. Brief message, conveying essential information like location, destination, other nearby trains. We are given "virtual" track warrants for certain parts of the layouts, and we have a yard master who is the god of the yard.
Typical exchange:
Crew: Dispatch 75 (train #75 calling dispatcher)
Dispatch: 75 (acknowledgement)
C: Approaching Hawthorne (limit of previous clearance, also gives location)
D: Very well (acknowledgement) Cleared to Danforth (clearance now amended to further on the layout). Protect against #34 (watch out for train 34 who is ahead of you)
C: Danforth. Watch for 34. (Repeating instructions) Thank you. (indicating end of transmission)
The dispatcher may also call the train with specific instructions like switching tracks to avoid a train working at a certain spot, coordinate a pass on a stretch of single main, or holding a train. Unless the crew hears otherwise, they must stop at the limit of their clearance and report to the dispatcher.
Hope that helps.
Andrew