Systems and methods for scheduling track maintenance

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2024127138-A1
Application number	US-202318394046-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 22, 2023
Priority date	Mar 25, 2020
Publication date	Apr 18, 2024
Grant date	—

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:
receiving a request to schedule maintenance for one or more railroad stations; 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, the plurality of railroad stations including the one or more railroad stations, wherein the first visual representation is associated with a first time period; displaying, in the first visual representation, a visual indication indicating that the one or more railroad stations are associated with the request to schedule maintenance; receiving, via the first visual representation displayed on the GUI, a selection of the one or more railroad stations; displaying, on the GUI, in response to the selection of the one or more railroad stations on the first visual representation, a second visual representation of information associated with the one or more railroad stations covering the first time period, wherein the first visual representation and the second visual representation are displayed as a single visual representation indicating the one or more railroad stations associated with the request to schedule maintenance 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 one or more railroad stations or another maintenance window; and providing a control element on the single visual representation to enable scheduling the maintenance for the one or more railroad stations during a maintenance window within one of the one or more traffic gaps.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the information associated with the one or more railroad stations covering the first time period comprises one or more of:
an indication of a time that a respective train is scheduled to cross one or more of the one or more railroad stations associated with the request to schedule maintenance during the first time period; and an indication of a time duration during which another maintenance for a respective railroad station of the one or more railroad stations 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 one or more of the plurality of railroad stations and the indication of the time duration during which another maintenance has been scheduled to occur are presented in the second visual representation concurrently.

3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining whether the one of the one or more traffic gaps has a duration sufficient to allow performance of the maintenance for the one or more railroad stations.

4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein enabling scheduling the maintenance for the one or more railroad stations within one of the one or more traffic gaps includes:
enabling scheduling the maintenance for the one or more railroad stations during the maintenance window within one of the one or more traffic gaps based on a determination that the one of the one or more traffic gaps has a duration sufficient to allow performance of the maintenance for the one or more railroad stations.

5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining, based on a visual representation displayed prior to the displaying of the single visual representation and covering a second time period occurring prior to the first time period, that no traffic gaps are present within the visual representation having a duration sufficient to allow performance of the maintenance for the one or more railroad stations; and selecting the first time period to display the first visual representation on the GUI.

6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
generating a maintenance reply including an indication of a time period of the maintenance window during which the maintenance for the one or more railroad stations is scheduled within one of the one or more traffic gaps.

7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
generating a map view that displays the maintenance window; and generating a calendar that displays a date and a time duration for the 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:
receiving a request to schedule maintenance for one or more railroad stations; 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, the plurality of railroad stations including the one or more railroad stations, wherein the first visual representation is associated with a first time period; displaying, in the first visual representation, a visual indication indicating that the one or more railroad stations are associated with the request to schedule maintenance; receiving, via the first visual representation displayed on the GUI, a selection of the one or more railroad stations; displaying, on the GUI, in response to the selection of the one or more railroad stations on the first visual representation, a second visual representation of information associated with the one or more railroad stations covering the first time period, wherein the first visual representation and the second visual representation are displayed as a single visual representation indicating the one or more railroad stations associated with the request to schedule maintenance 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 one or more railroad stations or another maintenance window; and providing a control element on the single visual representation to enable scheduling the maintenance for the one or more railroad stations during a maintenance window within one of the one or more traffic gaps.

9 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the information associated with the one or more railroad stations covering the first time period comprises one or more of:
an indication of a time that a respective train is scheduled to cross one or more of the one or more railroad stations associated with the request to schedule maintenance during the first time period; and an indication of a time duration during which another maintenance for a respective railroad station of the one or more railroad stations 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 one or more of the plurality of railroad stations and the indication of the time duration during which another maintenance has been scheduled to occur are presented in the second visual representation concurrently.

10 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the operations further comprise:
determining whether the one of the one or more traffic gaps has a duration sufficient to allow performance of the maintenance for the one or more railroad stations.

11 . The system of claim 10 , wherein enabling scheduling the maintenance for the one or more railroad stations within one of the one or more traffic gaps includes:
enabling scheduling the maintenance for the one or more railroad stations during the maintenance window within one of the one or more traffic gaps based on a determination that the one of the one or more traffic gaps has a duration sufficient to allow performance of the maintenance for the one or more railroad stations.

12 . The syst

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