CTC, small-road style: a new, consolidated dispatch center provides RailAmerica and other carriers with the safety and economic benefits of a Class I operation

Railway Age, March, 2005 by Marybeth Luczak

RailAmerica has shown that there's strength in numbers when it comes to short line railroading. The holding company is building off this strategy by consolidating dispatch operations for 20 small roads of several operators coveting 4,000 track-miles across 20 states, at its wholly owned subsidiary, American Rail Dispatching Center (ARDC). The St. Albans, Vt.-based ARDC started in October 2001 to provide dispatching for RailAmerica's 350-mile New England Central, and quickly grew to four dispatchers. It successfully brought together the dispatch functions of other RailAmerica properties, including Alabama Gulf Coast, and became a separate company and employer under the Railroad Retirement Board on Jan. 1, 2004. "The safety, efficiency, and economic benefits were overwhelmingly apparent," says ARDC Director Thomas Murphy.

"The primary goal of the center is to eliminate all main track incidents related to human-factor errors, particularly those caused by train dispatching," Murphy explains, noting that ARDC has never had a reportable dispatcher-related incident.

Now, ARDC has a staff of 16, using a RailComm, Inc., dispatch system. "We integrate track warrant control, SCADA, and CTC, and have the ability to integrate video cameras, electronic train sheets, and Geographic Information Systems," says Murphy. "Because different railroads have different technologies in place, like automated yard systems or remote locations to be monitored and controlled, they can be integrated." Shortly, ARDC will offer remote access. "We're working on a prototype so that management can have a view-only capability, for instance," Murphy says. And it's considering Positive Train Control-type features.

The dispatch system ties into ARDC communications. "We communicate with 40 to 50 towers that are linked through Penta-touch-screen technology," Murphy says. ARDC also receives advanced warning on inclement weather from WeatherData.

RailAmerica properties are not required to outsource to ARDC. "All the railroads with us have elected to be here," Murphy maintains. "At any time, any railroad can move the work in-house or give it to someone else." RailAmerica plans to bring future North American rail acquisitions under ARDC's umbrella, however. "As the Class I's spin properties off, we will look to ARDC to dispatch any new acquisitions," says Charles Moore, RailAmerica's Atlantic region vice president and ARDC president. The RailComm system, he explains, includes drawing tools that allow ARDC to add properties easily.

Recently, ARDC was awarded contracts from OmniTrax, North American RailNet, and Southwestern, a Utah-based railroad holding company. "It says a lot that we're serving competitors of RailAmerica now," Moore points out.

ARDC also serves as RailAmerica's designated first response center. The company's 44 railroads within the continental U.S. and Canada as well as OmniTrax carriers are required to call ARDC's hotline to report acts of vandalism and terrorism. The specially trained dispatchers notify, the railroads' corporate officers, the Association of American Railroads' Surface Transportation ISAC, and such agencies as the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, where appropriate.

This service, along with the high-tech dispatch features ARDC provides, is not common in the short line industry. "The Class I's with 30,000 route-miles have all these tools, and that's what makes ARDC unique," Murphy points out. "We're putting positive steps in place to be proactive in protecting the public and rail employees."