[TrunkCom] Union Pacific Plans to Throw Switch to Digital

[Ron Wilbanks]

  Union Pacific Railroad owns and operates a conventional radio system 
that covers the 25 western states of the U.S. This high-tech rail 
carrier utilizes not only two-way radio, but also wireless data and 
9,000 miles of fiber optic cables to support its highly sophisticated 
operations.

 From the railroad's centralized dispatch center for train operations, 
between 700 and 800 trains are dispatched daily to points throughout the 
western half of the U.S. Its conventional radio system has expanded 
steadily over the years to more than 3,700 base stations, 17,000 
portable radios, 4,3000 locomotive radios and several thousand mobile 
radios.

Now, Union Pacific is preparing to take a major step forward with plans 
to ultimately migrate the majority of its system from analog to digital 
technology. The new system will be based on the APCO Project 25 digital 
standard and will primarily operate as a conventional system with 
trunking utilized in some high congestion areas.

The company expects the migration process to take five to seven years 
before a significant portion of the railroad would be converted to the 
new digital system. Ed Kemp, General Director for Information 
Technologies at Union Pacific, spelled out the company's migration plan.

"We will implement the new digital style base station that is capable of 
receiving the analog signal and install the new base stations in our 
major hubs and locations," Kemp says. "The point is to operate in the 
analog mode until we have enough disbursement of the new type of 
portables and mobiles out there where they can operate 100 percent 
digital, at which time we would turn that site over to a digital format."

The first areas to be migrated would be the beginning and end points of 
the rail lines, which typically are located in busier urban areas. 
However, the low usage stretches in between the major terminals will 
remain analog until there is a need for a digital system.

"That's the advantage of a conventional system. We can communicate over 
both analog and digital systems to provide the most cost-effective 
solution to our business," says Kemp.

The data capabilities of the new digital system should help convince the 
company to allocate the capital necessary to fund the system. Kemp 
points out that data will provide vital information to improve the 
safety and operating efficiency of the railroad.

Union Pacific has some 4,000 locomotives in service, each one valued at 
an average of about $1.5 - 2 million. That adds up to over $6 billion in 
assets that are moving around the U.S. at any given time, which makes 
asset utilization especially important. Data offers the opportunity to 
ultimately provide a wide range of information about the current 
condition of each locomotive and send that information directly back to 
the central database.

Fuel monitoring is also a critical issue for the railroad since it 
spends about $1 million a day on diesel fuel. The objective is to 
improve the entire fuel management process and take advantage of lower 
fuel purchase prices and storage costs. With new devices to monitor the 
fuel levels at different stops, the data system eventually can be used 
to help schedule refueling stops more efficiently.

"I'm confident that once the operating department sees what we can do, 
money will be allocated so we can start implementing base stations even 
in outlying areas where spectrum efficiency really isn't an issue," says 
Kemp.

Benefits of APCO Project 25 as Possible Industry Standard

One reason Kemp is anticipating the migration process is that APCO's 
Project 25 is setting a uniform standard for digital two-way radio. 
Although Project 25 is largely a public safety initiative, Union Pacific 
and other railroads have been actively involved in the process. Kemp is 
optimistic that railroad companies will soon vote to adopt Project 25 as 
the industry standard for voice and data.

"The needs for public safety and the railroads are very similar," Kemp 
says. "The railroad industry has the largest private police force in the 
country, Railroads do a tremendous amount of work with state and federal 
law enforcement organizations."

Key issues, such as multiple sourcing and interoperability, affect 
railroads as much as they affect public safety agencies. After all, a 
train that travels across country could use tracks belonging to several 
different railroads. Until Project 25, Kemp says, interoperability in 
the railroad industry has unfortunately created a "lowest common 
denominator" form of communications.

"We still use carrier squelch, for example," he says. "So it was a 
perfect match to be aligned with this new set of standards and the FCC 
requirements for narrowband (12.5 kHz) operation."

Not surprisingly, Kemp stresses that Union Pacific's planned digital 
system will be Project 25 compliant. He's also anticipating the many new 
benefits of digital technology, such as consistent audio quality, 
integrated voice and data, embedded signaling for unit ID, enhanced 
encryption, data port and more.

Conventional Radio Remains Ideal for Railroads

Kemp emphasizes that conventional two-way radio technology always has 
been and always will be vital to Union Pacific's communications. A good 
example of how Union Pacific employs conventional technology can be 
found in its yard operations.

"For us, it lets the ground person talk to the engineer directly without 
needing an infrastructure, without needing even a repeater, so he or she 
can help that engineer shove a boxcar into a siding and tell the 
engineer when to stop," Kemp says. "The simple fact of having 
conventional systems provides us with very local person-to-person 
communications."

Kemp points out that the railroad's conventional systems plays an 
important role in the critical "hump yard" operations. The "hump" is a 
big hill in the middle of a railroad yard where boxcars are put together 
to build trains that can run a mile long or more. On the upside of the 
hump is a track, and on the downside the track branches into a network 
of tracks.

A switch engine pushes a series of box cars up the side of the hill and 
over the hump. The cars then are free-toll down the other side and are 
guided to a specific track to join a train that's going to a specific area.

The conventional radio system connects the yard operator in the control 
tower, the engineer on board the locomotive that's doing the shove, and 
the person pulling the pin to release the cars as they come over the hump.

"This demands exact timing and constant communications," according to 
Kemp. "This is another situation where conventional works perfectly for 
us."



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