Balancing Safety and Mobility

Strong winds can pose substantial dangers to freight trains. Intermodal freight movements often stack two truck trailers atop of each railcar. This offers tremendous supply chain efficiency in allowing a single, 100-car train to carry the same freight as 200 trucks. However, such trains are also extremely susceptible to strong winds which can threaten to topple the railcars and their loads over. Train dispatchers and train crews must balance stopping trains entirely or operating them at slower speeds during high wind conditions with the increased fuel, personnel, and inefficiency costs associated with such decisions.

The goal is to operate trains as close to maximum speed as possible and minimize delays and disruptions only when critically necessary. Our microscale, high-resolution modeling can provide dispatchers and train crew with information to make decisions about safe operating speeds down to specific mileposts every few minutes. This enables freight to keep moving when safe to do so and stop only when absolutely necessary thus ensuring operating ratios remain efficient.