#Amtrak train status update#
#Amtrak train status manual#

the train data will appear online in just a few minutes, when all data has been gathered and processed. and the system runs its routine at 9:06 p.m. For example, if a particular train arrives at 9:05 p.m.

#Amtrak train status update#

The computers take a few minutes to update the status of every active Amtrak train. But overall almost all real time reporting is automated and pretty reliable.Īs far as I know there is no delay in reporting the real time GPS data to Amtrak Arrow or the website, either. Occasionally something needs to be modified though, such as a platform being moved or a track being moved, etc. This can get messed up with double spots and other things such as temporary track work but there are rules in place to account for these issues. When the train starts moving again, the system concludes the train has departed the station. If the train enters the bounding box *and* the train speedometer goes to zero, the system concludes the train has arrived. I have worked with the main engineer at Amtrak who designed and deployed the system (in an informal bug-fix capacity) and have learned a lot about the mechanics of the GPS reporting routines.Įach station has a geofence which is a bounding box that looks for a train arriving or departing near the assigned station.

#Amtrak train status manual#

There are instances like you said where manual updates are needed. I can elaborate a little and tell you that the real-time train status information is almost always automatically recorded by the on train GPS device. Thank you for your insight into this, you guys in the field really know your stuff and we should all listen to you. That is why I like this forum - brings out the Paul Harvey 'The Rest of the Story' by railroaders in the know Yeah a lot of things drive me bonkers - lack of information clarity or quality of it. I just want to clarify this, because it’s driving me. With the details link scroll down to the bottom of web page to see the route map of that train - click on any one of the colored ball shape imagesĪnd see the time speed and direction of travel at that point - RED highballing it - ORANGE - medium speed - GREY - slow/yard speed stopped. That recent AutoTrain accident must have racked up some overtime for that crewĪlso, when you touch in the details link and it gives you speed/direction info? I would suppose that in your case when the train first departs at the origin point the payroll clock starts running until the destination is reached With most of the airlines when the cabin door is closed and the brakes released the (payroll) block time begins for crew pilots and attendants That and the cosmetic sheet metal at the front of the locomotive - what happened to the venerable cow catcher ?ĪND THEN ALL THE SPANISH INQUISTION OF the accident that happened further DELAYING the train !Ĭlick to expand.Thanks for providing that missing link in the data information of time - who does what to create the time Now the least little incident - trespassers on the tracks - cars trucks even buses stuck in place - racing in a futile effort to beat the train to theĬrossing - ignoring train horns and warning signals is fair game in the quest and the whole schedule thing goes haywire. Punctuationality one could set ones watch by used to be the norm. On the exact location of the train - in some cases the train has arrived passengers offloaded with luggage and moved on to the next station stopīefore the graph image or chart is updated. The dixielandsoftware is pretty good at updating (look at the colored ball movement for time direction and speed of travel) but still yet lags behind

In this day and age of computers when train movement is detected update the progress at that instant. Some airlines are not so great at doing this time keeping also. comes in off the tracks and has to manual update the progress ! It is as if the station clerk after counting tickets loading handling baggage duties and etc. None are a terribly exact system at best.