Does the Julie train status system get the reading from the GPS located in the dining car? How does it translate the info for instance when she says" The latest report for train 4 was when it was between Gallup New Mexico and Albuquerque New Mexico" Or the latest report for train 4 was when it departed Gallup New Mexico at 3 PM etc.
How does the info translate into what Julie says? Did Jullie Stinnefiled have to record all the city names and sayings or did they just get a sample of her voice and use the text to speech etc? It would be cool to know how the system works.
Is it true that the station automated status updates and the onboard automated announcements on the California Cars are made by Sunrise Systems who also uses the same system for buses?
I am a train buff and railfan and have always been interested in how this system operates. Anyone who can give me insight would be most appreciative.
I call up Julie just to have fun checking the status of random trains and seeing how well she performs. She sometimes says Sensday instead of Sunday lol.
Posted by smitty195 (Member # 5102) on :
I'm not sure where the GPS is located, but I think you're right in that it is located in the cafe car (they don't have dining cars on these trains---just the long-distance trains do).
But yes, Julie as well as the digital signs and announcements at the station come from the GPS. When you see a "service alert" or something out of the ordinary, this comes from someone punching it into a computer at Amtrak's office in Oakland (this particular office is located in Jack London Square---not at the station---at a different office building).
The GPS tracking only applies to these AmCal trains---not to the long-distance trains. That is done a totally different way.
Posted by Henry Kisor (Member # 4776) on :
Smitty195, I understood that Amtrak long-distance train status is reported by means of times of departure from stations. At least it looks that way when called up on the computer. I'd thought maybe a stationmaster entered the departure time on his or her keyboard and transmitted it to Amtrak HQ. What's the scoop?
Posted by smitty195 (Member # 5102) on :
Departure time from stations is only one way that the train status is tracked. At many stations, you are correct in that a ticket agent or other AmEmployee will enter the information into ARROW (Amtrak's computer system). However, there are many stations that are unstaffed, thus, no employee to enter the information. In these cases, the conductor can use his cell phone to call CNOC (Consolidated National Operations Center) in Wilmington, Delaware and give them the arrival/departure times for a particular station. If that is not done, then the conductor will say over the radio something like, "In at 37, Out at 48"....meaning they arrived at 37 minutes after the hour, and departed 48 minutes after the hour. He will radio this information to the engineer, who will in turn repeat this to the railroad dispatcher. That information is then given to CNOC so that the train status information can be updated.
There are also trackside electronics that update the location of a train. A friend who lives up in Salem, Oregon showed me these boxes but I'm not totally sure how they work. When you call "Julie" and ask for train status, and then you say "Get Details" and she gives a more specific location, this is how she knows where the train is----it has crossed an electronic location along the tracks somewhere. I have also been shown this information in ARROW for the Coast Starlight as I was waiting for the train in Portland, Oregon. It showed the progress of the train prior to arriving into Portland as it crossed these electronic signals.
Posted by Southwest Chief (Member # 1227) on :
Interesting topic, and one I've always wondered about too.
I had no idea there was GPS equipment in Superliner dining cars.
But I do know every Superliner, and probably most single level equipment too (I'm just not too familiar with those) has an AEI tag. I doubt if this is what Julie uses to track trains, but it's possible.
Practically every time I'm on the Chief after a station departure (even manned ones) the BNSF district dispatcher calls in and asks for the time. The engineer then responds as 15 and 20 (referring to the minutes, so say 7:15 arrival, 7:20 departure). Typically at departure the conductor will radio the engineer with the times. Then as I wrote above, the engineer will radio the dispatcher. I like when the conductor radios the engineer "as advertised" for departure.
What ever Julie uses, it's wrong more often then not. My prediction for a very late Chief came within 3 minutes of arrival. Julie was off by more than 45 min Posted by smitty195 (Member # 5102) on :
quote:Originally posted by Southwest Chief:
I had no idea there was GPS equipment in Superliner dining cars.
I think I wrote my comments in a way that can be easily misunderstood--sorry about that! Just to clarify, there is no GPS equipment in the Superliner dining cars. The way I wrote it looks like that's what I was saying, but I wasn't very clear. Oops!
However, just to add to this confusion a bit....
1) I'm 99% certain that there are GPS devices in the locomotives, and internal Amtrak computers are able to see exactly where all of their units are at any given time. However, these GPS units in the locomotives are in NO WAY connected to the time reporting of the trains. As a side note, the Surfliner locomotives transmit a WiFi signal (that you can pick up on your laptop or WiFi enabled mobile device). The WiFi signal it transmits is for the mechanics so that they can diagnose mechanical issues and look up mechanical records for the unit.
2) At one time, the Superliner II Transition/Dorm cars had a GPS device in them, and those WERE supposed to be used for tracking the time performance of the train. However, this idea never went very far. The GPS device as well as a computer were located in the "Chief's Office" which is located upstairs, right near the area at the end of the car that transitions downstairs. This was an idea that never took off, for whatever reason. You can see the remnants of this setup in the Trans/Dorm cars if you ever get a chance to go in and look inside the little office.
Posted by Geoff M (Member # 153) on :
quote:Originally posted by smitty195: 1) I'm 99% certain that there are GPS devices in the locomotives, and internal Amtrak computers are able to see exactly where all of their units are at any given time.
To back that up, I remember reading an article in Trains magazine that showed a CNOC employee showing the exact whereabouts of, I think, the Crescent on an online streetmapping service.
But that would imply that it is more than simply a GPS: one that transmits its location as well as locating itself.
Geoff M.
Posted by sojourner (Member # 3134) on :
I don't know if it's at all accurate, but I believe I heard from an Amtrak employees with whom I was chatting a few years back that with regard to long-distance trains, certain RR have more up-to-date GPS etc info than others. They seemed to be saying that when Amtak is on BNSF tracks, everything is pinpointed with great precision. Whether this gets to Julie, I don't know.
Also, since the Cascades Talgo trains have GPS on screens in the cars for passengers to watch, they obviously have GPS someplace, right? (although sometimes they aren't working 100 percent)
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