RailComm system aids Minnesota short line
Written by Douglas John BowenFairport, N.Y.-based RailComm says it has been chosen to provide its state-of-the-art Domain Operations Controller (DOC®) train control system for Northshore Mining Co. The DOC system will have functionality for Centralized Traffic Control (CTC) through the company's web-enabled software-as-a-service (SaaS) delivery method.
The company says SaaS provides a “pay-as-you-go” model by hosting the applications in the Cloud, thus eliminating capital equipment procurement constraints. Northshore Mining will have the ability to dispatch its railroad wherever an Internet connection is available. It is possible to relocate the dispatchers to alternative locations as required. As well, railroad management “will be able to log in from the office, home, or even from a hotel and directly view dispatching activity and management reports,” Railcomm says.
Since the DOC® control application resides on servers within the RailComm-managed data center in Rochester, N.Y., the requirement for local IT support at each railroad is greatly reduced.
Silver Bay, Minn.-based Northshore Mining Co. operates its short line of roughly 47 miles between its raw taconite mine in Babbitt, Minn., to its pellet plant at Silver Bay.
