I cannot find the thread, but there was a recent discussion about centralization of dispatch centers and how UP is the only one now with a single centralized dispatch center.
Well, UP's centralized dispatch center made the news today.
OMAHA WORLD HERALD November 7, 2008
U.P. Glitch in Omaha Causes Commuter Headaches in Chicago
BY MAGGIE O’BRIEN WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
A malfunction in the Union Pacific Railroad’s computer-aided dispatch system delayed trains in seven states - including Nebraska - for about an hour Thursday evening, company officials said.
The malfunction caused the most problems for Chicago commuters heading home from work.
The system, run out of Omaha and similar to a large-scale computer server, dispatches trains in Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Colorado, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois. It went down about 5:45 p.m. and was back online about an hour later, said Mark Davis, a Union Pacific spokesman.
In the meantime, trains were manually dispatched, delaying an unknown number of freight trains in those states.
In the Chicago area, delays ranged anywhere from a few minutes to an hour.
“You have so many trains running back-to-back,” Davis said. “There may be a train every five minutes. Freight trains would not have been as impacted.”
Davis said the railroad’s information technology department was looking into what caused the problem.
“We take it very seriously,” he said. “We want to find out why the computer control unit went down.”
The Case Against Centralized Dipsatch Centers
So, UP is the only one to use centralized dispatching? Seems pretty reasonable to have it back up and running in an hour.
PatC created a monster, 'cause nobody wants to see Don Simon no more they want AARR I'm chopped liver, well if you want AARR this is what I'll give ya, bad humor mixed with irrelevant info that'll make you roll your eyes quicker than a ~Z~ banhammer...
I work in computers, and that's known as a single point of failure. Not good planning. Distributed systems with backups are the way to go. On mission-critical computer servers, for example, there are multiple servers where one will take over from a malfunctioning unit automatically in case of failure.
Or more plainly, it's called putting all your eggs in one basket!
Garry K
Or more plainly, it's called putting all your eggs in one basket!
Garry K
The case against centralized train dispatching centers is not entirely based on any type of computer/power failure but rather also on the fact that having all the disprs in 1 office provides opportunity for constant "bumping" and changing of jobs based on one's seniority. Example would be a dispr from Waycross, Ga bumps on a Chicago desk on which he knows nothing about. He is "trained" on that job but isn't really familiar with the territory & trains involved. He soon realizes he wants off that job and bids in a Birmingham, Ala desk but before he can take over that position he has to train another guy on his Chicago job. Well, he really isn't really qualified himself on that Chicago job so he teaches what he knows to the new guy. As a result, the new guy doesn't learn all what he should so he takes over even less qualfied from the guy leaving. It's a domino effect, usually each new guy is less qualified than the proceeding guy. On the other hand, a regionalized office has less desks, the guys working in that region are most likely from that area and know a lot more about the territory & train operation. This keeps guys working in Dearborn, Mi from working a Waycross Ga desk ans vice-versa. Regionalized offices were maintained by Conrail & NS and that's why the BNSF and CSXT are in the process of de-centralizing and going back to regionalized offices- creates better trained dispatchers.
Fred's comments are quite cogent and illustrative of the point. In a nutshell, centralization can go too far. CSX learned it the hard way. BNSF learned it the hard way. UP just hasn't learned... yet.
The BEST dispatchers generally are the ones who have personally walked every foot of their dispatched territory. Why? Because they learn all of the nuances of their territory and can better work with the train crews that are running trains in that territory.
Let's see how many more times UP is down for "only an hour". I wonder if anyone can computer how much that lost hour cost UP in crews sitting idle and trains now moving. Just the extra hour in car hire liability has to add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Add all the wages paid to train crews for one hour of no work. Easily, the dollar amount is in the multiple MILLIONS.
Now, ask yourself the bigger question. Did all of the centralization cause a cost savings which cost justifies (offsets) this expense? Once again, both BNSF and CSX learned the hard way and decentralized their centralized dispatching centers.
The BEST dispatchers generally are the ones who have personally walked every foot of their dispatched territory. Why? Because they learn all of the nuances of their territory and can better work with the train crews that are running trains in that territory.
Let's see how many more times UP is down for "only an hour". I wonder if anyone can computer how much that lost hour cost UP in crews sitting idle and trains now moving. Just the extra hour in car hire liability has to add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Add all the wages paid to train crews for one hour of no work. Easily, the dollar amount is in the multiple MILLIONS.
Now, ask yourself the bigger question. Did all of the centralization cause a cost savings which cost justifies (offsets) this expense? Once again, both BNSF and CSX learned the hard way and decentralized their centralized dispatching centers.
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BNSF hasent learned it yet either. Only a had full of the who knows howmany desks are somwhere else, over 75% of them are still in Ft. Worth. The only places they moved are ones where there were joint dispatching centers opened. Like in LA.
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That sounds like a poor response to the lunacy of the union seniority system. Let's not put our best qualified people in positions of responsibility, let's instead use someone who has been with the company the longest, even if they don't know what the local job entails! Ay yi yi...Fred wrote:The case against centralized train dispatching centers is not entirely based on any type of computer/power failure but rather also on the fact that having all the disprs in 1 office provides opportunity for constant "bumping" and changing of jobs based on one's seniority. Example would be a dispr from Waycross, Ga bumps on a Chicago desk on which he knows nothing about. He is "trained" on that job but isn't really familiar with the territory & trains involved. He soon realizes he wants off that job and bids in a Birmingham, Ala desk but before he can take over that position he has to train another guy on his Chicago job. [...]
Garry K
Unless dispatchers have a different agreement then T&E, in addition to having the seneority to make the move you have to be qualified to hold it PRIOR to bumping to it. Even though I have quite a few younger guys (sene) in say the Columbus-Bellevue pool I can't bump into it because I'm not qualified. The way I'd have to do it is qualify on my own time (no pay) then once I satisify a official that I'm qualified then I could bump someone.Garry K wrote:That sounds like a poor response to the lunacy of the union seniority system. Let's not put our best qualified people in positions of responsibility, let's instead use someone who has been with the company the longest, even if they don't know what the local job entails! Ay yi yi...Fred wrote:The case against centralized train dispatching centers is not entirely based on any type of computer/power failure but rather also on the fact that having all the disprs in 1 office provides opportunity for constant "bumping" and changing of jobs based on one's seniority. Example would be a dispr from Waycross, Ga bumps on a Chicago desk on which he knows nothing about. He is "trained" on that job but isn't really familiar with the territory & trains involved. He soon realizes he wants off that job and bids in a Birmingham, Ala desk but before he can take over that position he has to train another guy on his Chicago job. [...]
Garry K
Seneority prevents some new hire because he's got reletives or friends that are officials, from walking on the property day one and deciding he wants the best paying and easiest job from getting it. It also prevents the same with the a__ki__ers.
I haven't been a dispr for some time now but the agreement used to be you could bid a job you were not qualified on and the company would either hold the incumbent over or bring somebody off the extra board to work the job and teach you the job. I don't think that has been changed. I do know that yardmasters must be qualified on a job they bid in but don't have to be if bumped, the company would have someone "break you in" until you become qualified.