Jax Dispatch Center

Dominic Mazoch posted:

Game of Thrones:  Winter is coming.

Game of Hunter:  Irma is coming.

(Considering what happen here in Texas, I can feel the nerves of those in Florida.)

Question 1:  Why would anybody want to put system wide DS center in the middle of HURRICANE COUNTRY?

Question 2:  Why would anybody want to have centralized DS centers to begin with post 911? Natural or human made manure happens.

 It is not if, it is when.

Are you referring to a dispatch center in Jacksonville, FL?

Dominic:

According to E. Hunter Harrison himself; he is the smartest; most gifted railroader since the dawn of time. How dare you question his decision making!  (The foregoing intended to drip with sarcasm.)

Wall Street is oblivious to this guy's innumerable faults and flaws.  Till they quit fawning over him; nothing will change.

Curt

As usual, the original poster doesn't know what he's talking about. Jacksonville, Florida is NOT, nor has it ever been, "in the middle of HURRICANE COUNTRY"! Also, that building on the river front in downtown Jacksonville (500 Water Street?), was the headquarters of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, long before the merger of the SAL and ACL, in the mid 1960s, and has survived any and all weather events EXTREMELY well, for more than 50 years. The Centralized and Computerized Dispatching concept has worked EXTREMELY well for CSX, BNSF (in Fort Worth, Texas), NS, and UP (Harriman Dispatch Center, in Omaha, Nebraska, which sees a number of Tornados EVERY YEAR), to name just three railroads.

Hot Water is absolutely correct. 

Jacksonville, FL might be the safest Atlantic coastal city between Miami and the Outer Banks of North Carolina. I have lived here (Jacksonville) since 1952. The sole direct hit of a hurricane was Dora in 1964. In came onshore as a Cat 2, that caused little impact to rail operations. Local recovery was relatively quick for the population. 

Dora's path was extremely unusual. Instead of the typical path of a hurricane that impacts the eastern coast of the USA, which starts westerly, then WNW, to then turn N, and finally to fly off in a NE direction. With Dora it had turned north and then stopped and hovered off the coast of Jacksonville Beach. It then turned due west and came onshore. The sudden turn west, while not impossible, is highly unlikely, requiring some very specific weather conditions for it to happen. But it must be said, hurricanes can do unpredictable things and Irma is no exception. We all pray we are not in its path.

Let's set this straight, for the record. I am a licensed professional engineer in the State of Florida. I specialize in wind behavior and the testing / design of high-rise buildings and other structures throughout Florida.  Sorry "Hot Water", but Jacksonville IS in the middle of "hurricane country". The ultimate design wind speed, as per the Florida Building Code,  for an essential facility like a railway dispatch center is 140 mph, in Jacksonville Florida. Because Jacksonville has not been struck by a major hurricane in recent memory, many residents have become dangerously complacent and developed a false belief that Jacksonville is less prone to a strike due to all kinds of silly reasons. None are true. Many tropical systems have struck Jacksonville. Hurricane Floyd almost hit in 1999. The original poster made a valid and reasonable point in questioning the wisdom of placing a critical facility in Jacksonville.

As far as I know, almost all railroads and commuter operation have a central dispatching center. Amtrak is the only RR that comes to mind for decentralized dispatching.

GregR posted:

Let's set this straight, for the record. I am a licensed professional engineer in the State of Florida. I specialize in wind behavior and the testing / design of high-rise buildings and other structures throughout Florida.  Sorry "Hot Water", but Jacksonville IS in the middle of "hurricane country". The ultimate design wind speed, as per the Florida Building Code,  for an essential facility like a railway dispatch center is 140 mph, in Jacksonville Florida. Because Jacksonville has not been struck by a major hurricane in recent memory, many residents have become dangerously complacent and developed a false belief that Jacksonville is less prone to a strike due to all kinds of silly reasons. None are true. Many tropical systems have struck Jacksonville. Hurricane Floyd almost hit in 1999. The original poster made a valid and reasonable point in questioning the wisdom of placing a critical facility in Jacksonville.

The other issue is storm surge and flooding. 

And even if the DS center survived, there is a chance the dispatchers themselves could not get to it.

Except for three years, I have lived along the Gulf Coast.  With that, one thinks differently about Mission Critical things.  I even think it is not good for NASA to be where it is very near Galveston Bay.

I think by early next week we will know who's right on this one.

Maybe I should have merely replied to the original post. IMO, Jacksonville, FL is not a "risky" location for a railroad dispatch center. It has been a railroad hub for decades. CSX has none of its offices within ten miles of the coast. 

The connotations around "in the middle of HURRICANE COUNTRY" is historically groundless. It is charged rhetoric with little substance.

A few years ago, CSX tried decentralized dispatching. Back here, the "west end" was done out of Huntington, and the Keystone/Cumberland out of Baltimore. Then both out of Baltimore, then back to Jax.

They even passed out "Huntington Division" caps. Like to have one now...

Having said all above, I don't think hurricanes had anything to do with the decentralized attempt.

Ed

A point of clarification; assuming CSX is consolidating into the same dispatching facility they used previously; it is not near the river or any other sizeable streams I can recall.  I visited this facility three times when it last functioned as the systemwide dispatch center.  The main building was a bunker like facility but; there was not enough room at that time to house all the dispatching desks.  If memory serves; the Clinchfield territory and perhaps one other were handled from an adjacent office building.  I believe the power bureau was also in the adjacent office building.

Whether re-centralizing into JAX is a good or bad idea largely depends on the man calling the shots.  If EHH thinks centralized dispatching is the answer then it's "the right way".  If the top guy thinks it's better to have your people out in the field where, theoretically they can become more familiar with the territory they dispatch; then that is "the right way".  My point is that either can be made to work.

In fact I'd wager the next CEO of CSX; assuming the railroad remains an independent entity; will decide decentralization is the answer.  And his (or her) rationale will be as much BS then as Hunter's is now.

Curt

NS does not have centralized dispatching.  Will this change? Not sure.    Amtrak does for the most part...30th Street and Penn Station Control.   

Mike W. posted:

NS does not have centralized dispatching.  Will this change? Not sure.    Amtrak does for the most part...30th Street and Penn Station Control.   

I think Amtrak has five centers along the NEC.  Each can take control of all or part of it in case of issues.  Having backup is a grat idea.

JAX got a lot of rain.  Did the DS center come out OK?  Nothing on web site.

The CSX JAX Dispatch Center is built like a fortress. It's a round, concrete building with no windows. It's fine.