Pin-pointiiig Trains By "Vocal Radar"

Chronicle (Levin), 22 December 1949, Page 4

Pin-pointiiig Trains By "Vocal Radar"

Tkere 's little reiaxation at Ckristmas for railway workefs. Tliose wlxo coutrol tUe rulining of trams are always oii their toea, but at (JkristmaS particulary their task ia more exaptiug than ever. • Uu Friday, December 23, apart from gooda "apeciais," no tevver inan hve paasenger trains will run from Wellington to Auckland ^n,d live from Auctciaud to Wellington. Threading thoae trains through a heavy existmg sciie.d* ule raisea many problems. Delaya must be redueed to a minimum, but saieiy ia tlie param'ount factor. When a train leaves one station and arrives safeiy at another it is not juat good fortune. it is because every posiibie safety nieasure has been taken •and because every train within the uonirol area is pin-pomted by a sort of •'vocal radar" throughout its run from "the moment it is ready to leave the ■ceimiuai station. That is why, on December 23, live north-bound and live soutli-bound expresses carrymg about ^ |4000 passengers wili pass safeiy over ' y ithe 8(J miles of difficuit railway country' • betweeil Mangaweka and iiaunmu vvithLn six hours. in addition, there wili be a uuiuber of fveight trains, lncludnig "extras. " Tne Answer is Train Control IIow is it done? The answer is train control. Train control is the nerve centre of the raiiways. N o train may leave , an attended station within the control vvithout permission.

Iminediatfely a train arrives)- departs, or passes a station the train controiler is advised and given the time. With a red pencif he plots on a graph the actual ruh of each train and from this he immediateiy knows its position, whether it is on time, ahead of lime, or behind time, and whether he will have to hold another train at intermediate loop to allow it through. Other factors govern his decision. These include the conliguration of the route, tonnages, shunting, and the reinarshailing of a train. Schedules are prepared long before the. train controiler receives the graph, but it is his responsibility to ensure that the "special" has a clear run and that the normal trains are held at selected points and again dispatched with the-least delay. A typical train control cenlre is Ohakune •> Junction, one of the five centres in the North Island. Through a communication rooni, Ohakune Junction is in contact over seven direct channels with Wellington, Auckland, Frankton Junction, and Palmerston North. In elfect, it is a Post and Telegraph Department in miniature, and messages can be exchanged without delay either by telephone or by teleprinter. In controlling trains, Ohakune Junction also inaintains direct contact with 67 stations and signal boxes as far nqrth as Frankton Junction and as far south as Palmerston North. Threading an extra train tlirough the uiaze of scheduied runs creates. additional problems, as the- following typical exchauges will show. The controiler calls up Marton. Controiler: Hello, Marton. J.9 was four minutes late at Mangaweka, but he made up a' minute to Mangaonoho. He should reach Marton on time at 6.35. Loud-speaker: Good. What about 626? Controiler: Hold him until 7.13. He should pick up tliose live minutes by Rata. 243 will cross there. Now Rata is ealled up. Controiler: Hello, Rata. Marton is holding 626 until 7.13 but he should reach you on time. Hold 243 to cross. And so it goes on, 24 hours a day.