Composed by
John Turner, Vice President-Community Preparing & Operations, Union Pacific

On the Union Pacific web page, Vice President-Community Planning & Functions John Turner made available his thoughts on how technologies impacts the job of every single railroader, a subject matter Railway Age preferred to share with a broader audience.
Practically 23 yrs back, I excitedly started out my occupation as a brakeman at Union Pacific. All over that job, I have held each individual industry functioning placement except locomotive engineer. So significantly has adjusted due to the fact I switched railcars and rode trains for a living, and know-how has performed a major role in numerous of all those modifications.
I vividly bear in mind carrying all the paperwork, rule publications, timetables, dangerous materials information and operate orders when I went on obligation. A work purchase is how a educate person stories railcar movement into and out of our customers’ facilities. I lugged about so a lot paperwork, I can even now sense the weight of it in my memory.
In addition to hauling about so much things, the paper-and-pencil method of holding keep track of of our do the job didn’t allow us to report car actions until eventually the stop of our change. This delay often could direct to problems for the railroad and our prospects.
Technologies has experienced a big influence on how educate personnel strategy their work in these contemporary occasions. Thanks to mobile reporting devices, we have pretty much eradicated the have to have for do the job orders, and can now report our activities in close to genuine time.
Named “DigiCrew,” lawn, our area crews can use a smartphone-like unit to report the cars they are spotting, as properly as appear up any track, increase more vehicles, take out lacking automobiles, and trace and re-sequence cars and trucks on a keep track of. Instead of carrying all-around handfuls of paper, their switching recommendations are consolidated on a handy hand-held unit.
This technologies is creating everyday living far better for our staff as properly as our consumers, who now see actual-time data on the status of their rail automobiles. Long run enhancements will enable the machine to line designated yard switches, improving service, productiveness, and, ultimately, basic safety.
One more place I held during my career was an settlement supervisor referred to as a yardmaster, the individual in charge of the rail garden, who has between his or her numerous obligations combining rolling inventory into trains and switching trains from track to track.
A person way we’re expediting the discovering curve for yardmasters is through an initiative to build a terminal preparing software that leverages in-household technological innovation, employing algorithms to maximize car connections and throughput to make improvements to service for our prospects. This program permits supervisors to concentration on executing the approach and main persons.
A further of our most significant technological innovation initiatives entails Union Pacific-proprietary teach-builder software package. It is a conclusion tool that aids the UP workforce establish complex coach profiles, lowering the time desired to finish do the job activities, and building it less difficult to develop extended trains.
Our improved efficiency related to building more time trains has been a important driver of our accomplishment and will keep on to be in the long term. Extending train size decreases need for resources and lessens the range of trains on our network. It generates capacity when increasing provider.
Our Central Corridor between Environmentally friendly River, Wyo., and Chicago has a number of most important line tracks. We’ve made technology utilized to establish opportunities to merge manifest, bulk and intermodal trains in which it would make sense.
To hold our method shifting easily, we’re scheduling “train meets” to get gain of extensive sidings or several major line segments. A teach fulfill is a place where by opposing trains can pass every single other by using an adjacent track. We’re continuing to commit in extending sidings on particular corridors so there are a lot more alternatives for prepare satisfies. We’ve presently extra a lot more than 40 sidings and prepare yet another 60 siding extensions in the long run.
Inspite of how know-how has impacted the purpose of the each day railroader, our company’s concentration has not adjusted more than my 23-yr job. We’re often hunting for the greatest ways to use our franchise as our customers’ transportation wants evolve. We wake up each day with a relentless drive to make improvements to support and productiveness, finally leveraging both to improve our franchise.