Systems and methods for scheduling track maintenance

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11887028-B2
Application number	US-202016830054-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 25, 2020
Priority date	Mar 25, 2020
Publication date	Jan 30, 2024
Grant date	Jan 30, 2024

Abstract

In one embodiment, a method includes generating a first visual representation of a location of a railroad station in relation to a railroad track, receiving a request for a first maintenance window, and determining that the first maintenance window is associated with the railroad station. The method further includes determining a first time period and generating a second visual representation of information associated with the railroad station during the first time period. The information includes an indication of a time that a train is scheduled to cross the railroad station during the time period. The information also includes an indication of a time duration for a second maintenance window that has been requested during the time period.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
displaying, on a graphical user interface (GUI), a first visual representation of locations for a plurality of railroad stations in relation to a plurality of railroad tracks;
receiving a request for a first maintenance window;
determining that the request for the first maintenance window is associated with a subset of the plurality of railroad stations;
displaying, in the first visual representation, a visual indication indicating that the subset of the plurality of railroad stations is associated with the maintenance request;
determining a first time period;
receiving, via the first visual representation displayed on the GUI, a selection of a railroad station from the subset of the plurality of railroad stations associated with the maintenance request;
displaying, on the GUI, in response to the selection of the railroad station on the first visual representation, a second visual representation of information associated with the subset of the plurality of railroad stations associated with the maintenance request covering the first time period, wherein the information comprises:
an indication of a time that a respective train is scheduled to cross one or more of the subset of the plurality of railroad stations associated with the maintenance request during the first time period; and
an indication of a time duration for a second maintenance window for a respective railroad station of the subset that has been scheduled to occur during the first time period, wherein the indication of the time that the respective train is scheduled to cross the one or more of the subset of the plurality of railroad stations associated with the maintenance request and the indication of the time duration for the second maintenance window are presented in the second visual representation concurrently;

displaying, on the GUI, the first visual representation and the second visual representation as a single visual representation indicating the subset of the plurality of railroad stations associated with the maintenance request and one or more traffic gaps within the first time period, the one or more traffic gaps representing durations of time uninterrupted by a train scheduled to cross the railroad station or another maintenance window, wherein the indication of the time that the respective train is scheduled to cross the one or more of the subset of the plurality of railroad stations associated with the maintenance request is different from the indication of the time duration for the second maintenance window; and
providing a control element on the single visual representation to enable scheduling the first maintenance window within one of the one or more traffic gaps.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the request for the first maintenance window comprises:
a name of a maintenance crew;
a requested time duration for the first maintenance window; and
a maintenance description.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising scheduling the first maintenance window within the first time period based on the second visual representation.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
selecting a second time period.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining, based on the second visual representation, that a time duration for the first maintenance window conflicts with the time duration of the second maintenance window during the first time period; and
selecting a second time period.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
generating, in the second visual representation, information associated with the subset of the plurality of railroad stations.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
generating a map view that displays the first maintenance window; and
generating a calendar that displays a date and a time duration for the first maintenance window.

8. A system comprising one or more processors and a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
displaying, on a graphical user interface (GUI), a first visual representation of locations for a plurality of railroad stations in relation to a plurality of railroad tracks;
receiving a request for a first maintenance window;
determining that the request for the first maintenance window is associated with a subset of the plurality of railroad stations;
displaying, in the first visual representation, a visual indication indicating that the subset of the plurality of railroad stations is associated with the maintenance request;
determining a first time period;
receiving, via the first visual representation displayed on the GUI, a selection of a railroad station from the subset of the plurality of railroad stations associated with the maintenance request;
displaying, on the GUI, in response to the selection of the railroad station on the first visual representation, a second visual representation of information associated with the subset of the plurality of railroad stations associated with the maintenance request covering the first time period, wherein the information comprises, wherein the information comprises:
an indication of a time that a respective train is scheduled to cross one or more of the subset of the plurality of railroad stations associated with the maintenance request during the first time period; and
an indication of a time duration for a second maintenance window for a respective railroad station of the subset that has been scheduled to occur during the first time period, wherein the indication of the time that the respective train is scheduled to cross the one or more of the subset of the plurality of railroad stations associated with the maintenance request and the indication of the time duration for the second maintenance window are presented in the second visual representation concurrently;

displaying, on the GUI, the first visual representation and the second visual representation as a single visual representation indicating the subset of the plurality of railroad stations associated with the maintenance request and one or more traffic gaps within the first time period, the one or more traffic gaps representing durations of time uninterrupted by a train scheduled to cross the railroad station or another maintenance window, wherein the indication of the time that the respective train is scheduled to cross the one or more of the subset of the plurality of railroad stations associated with the maintenance request is different from the indication of the time duration for the second maintenance window;
determining, based on the second visual representation, that a requested time duration for the first maintenance window conflicts with the time that the train is scheduled to cross the railroad station during the first time period; and
providing a control element on the single visual representation to enable scheduling the first maintenance window within the traffic gap based on the determining that that the requested time duration for the first maintenance window conflicts with the time that the train is scheduled to cross the railroad station during the first time period.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the request for the first maintenance window comprises:
a name of a maintenance crew;
the requested time duration for the first maintenance window; and
a maintenance description.

10. The system of claim 8 , the operations further comprising:
selecting a second time period.

11. The system of claim 8 , the operations further comprising:
determining, based on the second visual representation, that a requested time duration for the first maintenance

Assignees

• Bnsf Railway Co

Inventors

• Smith Mitchel Jeffrey-Roy
• Clark Daniel Phillip
• Lewin Karl
• Garza Jose Gerardo
• Thompson Christopher Jason

Classifications

• G06Q50/40

  Business processes related to the transportation industry (shipping G06Q10/083) · CPC title

• G06Q10/0631

  Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations · CPC title

• G06Q10/20 Primary

  Administration of product repair or maintenance · CPC title

• B61L27/04 Primary

  Automatic systems, e.g. controlled by train; Change-over to manual control · CPC title

• G06Q10/06311 Primary

  Scheduling, planning or task assignment for a person or group · CPC title