Patent Application Number: 2004202558
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United States
This application is directed to a system and method of scheduling and controlling the movement of trains across a large rail network. Controlling trains is a difficult and complex issue due to the large number of variables involved, including a large number of trains competing for limit resources.
Railroads use a "divide and conquer" approach to partition the rail network into several control territories. Each control territory has a local movement plan and is controlled by a human dispatcher.
The problem with this approach is that it is inevitable that one dispatcher's action, which appropriate within the context of the dispatcher's territory, may result in financial losses for the railway. A dispatchers may route a train into an adjacent territory, only to discover that by doing so, the end result will be more congestion for the railroad.
The invention seeks to provide computer processing scheduling systems that are used to help dispatchers manage their control territories. The invention is directed to a means of resolving identified conflicts at boundary elements between control territories and coordinating the movement of trains from one territory to another. The invention involves modifying local movement plans in response to movement of trains on the rail network to prevent conflicts.