Eastern Railroad Discussion > CSX Signal Problems - PART 1

Yesterday CSX suffered a bit of a meltdown with the signal system in Callahan, Florida.  To add to the problem, the radio tower also went out requiring Amtrak crews to relay information from the dispatcher via cell phone.

The CSX signal system failure that affected the Callahan, South Callahan, Dinsmore, Sandy Ford Road and Crawford control points. Amtrak #53 (Auto Train), #91 (Silver Star), CSX Q143 and U810 were all delayed and had to get permission to pass stop signals. The Auto Train Conductor and Assistant Conductor had to manually throw all eight switches at Callahan from "power" to "hand-throw" control.

The video (including radio conversations) is in three parts.  Here is Part 1.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/30/21 12:32 by RFandPFan.

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RFandPFan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yesterday CSX suffered a bit of a meltdown with
> the signal system in Callahan, Florida.  To add
> to the problem, the radio tower also went out
> requiring Amtrak crews to relay information from
> the dispatcher via cell phone.
>
This happened in the Richmond, Va. area as well -- I wonder if it happened at the same time as the issues in Florida:  the Acca Yardmaster was heard relating this to at least one or two different crews.  What's happening?  Is the Dispatcher center experiencing new radio issues that widespread?

rbx551985 Wrote:
> >
> This happened in the Richmond, Va. area as well --
> I wonder if it happened at the same time as the
> issues in Florida:  the Acca Yardmaster was heard
> relating this to at least one or two different
> crews.  What's happening?  Is the Dispatcher
> center experiencing new radio issues that
> widespread?

Probably unrelated.  Contractors arrived and repaired the tower, other radio towers in the area were working okay.

These were really nicely done videos of how they managed to keep things running, Thanks for sharing.

Can somebody clarify something for me?  I thought cell phones turned on in the cab were absolutely verboten, and now I have read two stories in the last two days that referenced crew members using cell phones to do their job,  What gives?

junctiontower Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Can somebody clarify something for me?  I thought
> cell phones turned on in the cab were absolutely
> verboten, and now I have read two stories in the
> last two days that referenced crew members using
> cell phones to do their job,  What gives?

The cell phone was the conductor calling the dispatcher.  If you listen to the recording you can hear the conductor relaying the dispatcher's instructions to the engineer via radio.  I'm not sure, but I believe that Amtrak issues cell phones to conductors so they can call ahead to manned stations or talk to the Ops Center.

Company issued cell phones are a different animal, they are not “personal electronic devices”.
The company gets the phone bill so, if you are smart, you don’t call up your girlfriend on company time (or phone for that matter off the clock).
The one I have doesn’t have text either.

Heck the rule books are on IPads for some railroads.  



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 07/30/21 12:46 by NIL3880.

Since my Group CSXSIGHTINGS is interested in any CSX stuff, i shared this article with my CSXsightings@groups.io group, parts 1, 2 and three are available to my group

nick

Interesting, thanks for posting the radio chatter.  There was certainly a widespread radio problem on CSX yesterday morning.  I heard the FE dispatcher discussing the problem with a train on the Charlotte Subdivision.  He said that his Charlotte Subdivision radios were working, but radios on other subdivisions were not working.  He called it a systemwide issue.

I believe "power braking" is also prohibited?
JB

3rdswitch Wrote:
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> I believe "power braking" is also prohibited?
> JB

Stretching to a stop still legal...beyond that Engineers know when and where on their territory they need to....beyond that very discouraged. 

junctiontower Wrote: 
------------------------------------------------------- 
> Can somebody clarify something for me?  I thought 
> cell phones turned on in the cab were absolutely 
> verboten, and now I have read two stories in the 
> last two days that referenced crew members using 
> cell phones to do their job,  What gives?


The no personal cellphone rule allows their use in an emergency. Where I dispatched we treated a radio failure as an emergency as we had no other way to control the railroad. I always made it a point to state on such calls that we were communicating on a cell phone account the railroad radio was out under the emergency provision. I did this to cover my tracks for when management went on a fishing expedition on listening to recordings. Apparently it was OK as I never got any heat from the bosses. 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/31/21 10:51 by 41bridge.

Anyone miss the old PBXs?

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