I just want to make sure that I my understanding of a Track Warrant is correct while listening to railroad frequencies.
I got the definition of the term
here and it reads as follows:
"A track warrant is a set of instructions issued to a train crew authorizing specific train movements. The system is widely used in North America. The warrant is issued by the train dispatcher and delivered to the train crew via radio. The train crew copies the instructions onto a pre-printed paper form and reads back the warrant to ensure that nothing was misunderstood."
So it looks like to me, being the aviation nerd that I am (Yes I know, I SAID it
), a track warrant would be similar to a flight plan which pilots have to follow.
A follow up question I had is why do railroads issue track warrants via radio communications when we live in a digital world?
We live in a digital world, but Railroads are even more safety sensitive than the airline industry, and the digital revolution is quite new compared to the railroad industry and still prone to outages. Slowly the railroads are upgrading to digital authority but the rollout is extremely expensive considering many locomotives in service are several decades old and there are hundreds of thousands of miles of track that would also need to be upgraded with sensors. In addition, track warrants aren't only issued to trains, but also inspectors, on track equipment, maintenance in the way, etc. Track warrants
can be delivered electronically and printed, but it requires the crews to have access to a printer which generally aren't installed in locomotives.
There are different types of tracks. For this application, we are concerned about what is known as "Main Track". Main track is higher speed and longer distances from different places. With higher speeds comes longer stopping distances often resulting in stopping distances far beyond line of sight.
So, main tracks are strictly controlled with the vast majority of movements controlled by a dispatcher (similar to an air traffic controller). There are different types of permission to occupy the main track known as "Authority". A track warrant is one type of main track authority. It can be used in conjunction with other signaling systems or on its own (this is known as dark territory).
In the past, a single misaligned switch has led to deaths and the destruction of entire towns. A single misaligned main track switch was the cause of the
Graniteville, SC Train Wreck and subsequent hazardous materials disaster.
So, with track warrants, a dispatcher that controls the entire line verbally reads off the authority to the train crew as needed, and the train crew must read it back exactly as stated. There is a prescribed form used depending on the railroad. My experience is with Union Pacific an you'll commonly hear the dispatcher state X Box (number) then specific instructions, and move on to further boxes. This correlates with the prescribed form. The different boxes mean different things... The prescribed form is used for different types of verbal authority, and not all of them apply to track warrants. Here's a brief description of the boxes that you'll hear used for track warrants (for Union Pacific).
- 1. Track Warrant XXXX is Void - This voids a previous track warrant assigned to that train.
- 2. Not In Effect Until Arrival of (Engine Number), (Engine Number), (Engine Number), At (Location) - The train being issued this track warrant cannot act upon it until the arrival of the engine numbers listed at a given location. This is used for meeting trains at a specific location. The engine numbers are always the head end leader and allows for meeting up to three trains at the specific location.
- 3. Proceed from (Location) to (Location) on (Track), (Subdivision Name) - This allows a train to proceed from one specific location to another specific location in one direction on a specific track on a specific subdivision. There may be more than one main track and they are numbered. If there is only one main track, they will simply specify "Main Track).
- 4. Hold Main Track at Last Named Point - Instructs the train to stay on the main track at the last named point.
- 5. Clear Main Track at Last Named Point - Instructs the train to clear off of the main track at the last named point, usually into a siding.
- 7. Work Between (Location) and (Location) on (Track), (Subdivision). - Allows the train to work in either direction on the main track.
- 9. Limits jointly occupied between (Location), and (Location) - Allows more than one crew to work together in an area (there are significant restrictions on working with this box.
- 10. Joint with (Name or Engine Number) between (Location), and (Location) - Used in conjunction with #9 so that crews entering a joint limit can contact the crews with authority in that area to coordinate movements
- 11. From (Location) to (Location), (Speed in MPH), (Track Number), Flags at (Location) - Used to issue a speed restriction to a crew that has been instituted after the departure from their originating terminal where they received a track condition summary
- 12. Box 12 can be used for a few different things. Crews can be instructed to comply with a specific procedure between two mileposts, this can be used to notify crews that a main track switch is lined for a siding, and can be used to give crews permission to leave a main track switch lined for siding.
Overall, verbal authority will never go completely away as there needs to be some sort of backup system to electronic authority. This is a very
VERY basic primer on track warrant control. Track Warrants are a very specific, technical, and complex set of instructions that have gotten many crews fired, and even resulted in deaths when they aren't followed to the letter.
Source: I worked for Union Pacific as a conductor and engineer for 10 years and copied thousands of track warrants.
