Vol. 17 No. 3
March, 1987
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Stay Safe in 87
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CTC System Gets Clear
Signal
By Paul Thurston
Simultaneous ceremonies: Winnipeg City Councilor Louise
Dacquay (left insert), assisted by Charles Pike, CP Rail's vice-president Prairie Region, activates
a signal at Thunder Bay where Mayor Jack Masters (right insert) was on hand to witness the ribbon breaking
inauguration of CP Rail's computerized traffic control system.
Winnipeg - Simultaneous ceremonies in Winnipeg and Thunder Bay
recently marked the completion of a $48-million computerized traffic control system (CTC) along a vital
double-track section of CP Rail main line linking Eastern and Western Canada.
After CP Rail officials and guests in both cities exchanged greetings over the railway's radio network, a sequence
of computer key strokes in Winnipeg cleared the way for a train carrying empty grain cars to begin its journey west
from Thunder Bay.
The 675-km rail route has long been one of CP Rail's busiest. Aside from being a major artery for
prairie grain bound for export through the Lakehead port, the route also handles potash, lumber, coal, and other
important commodities.
Winnipeg nerve center: A 13-meter-long
electronic display board helps traffic controllers at CP Rail's Winnipeg dispatch center to coordinate train
movements over the main line from Thunder Bay to Broadview, Saskatchewan. Later this year, the center will take over
control of operations westward to Swift Current, Saskatchewan.
CP Rail's signals and communications teams have been at work since April, 1983, wiring and installing 340 control
bungalows, implanting 490 in-track sensing devices, mounting 880 new signal lights on 320 new masts and
bridges, and tying everything together through 660 km of cable and numerous computer circuits.
Meanwhile, other crews installed 49 track "crossovers" - incorporating a total of 102
electrically-powered switches.
The remotely-operated crossovers - located from 24 km to 33 km apart - allow traffic controllers in
Winnipeg to make maximum use of double-track by routing fast trains around slower ones operating in
the same direction. The new system also gives controllers more flexibility in coordinating trains moving in opposite
directions.
CTC has been expanded in stages since the Winnipeg nerve center of the system officially was opened
6 Jun 1985, in an office dominated by a 13-metre-wide electronic display board.
Rail traffic controllers stationed at the center use the board and color computer terminals to supervise operation
over the 1,100-km route from Thunder Bay to Broadview, Saskatchewan.
The territory governed by the Winnipeg dispatch office will be expanded this year over another 395 route kilometers
between Broadview and Swift Current, Saskatchewan.
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Meticulous work: A technician installs wiring and
electronic components in one of 340 prefabricated signals "bungalows" between Winnipeg and Thunder
Bay.
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The last circuits in the Lakehead portion of the system were wired into place in January.
Trains moving within the territory governed by CTC are regulated by automatic signalling.
While their movements are governed by the signal indications, locomotive engineers stay in touch with traffic
controllers by two-way radio. Transmission facilities at the Winnipeg center provide voice
communication not only with train crews, but also with track and signal maintenance crews using
hand-held radios.
Whether on foot or at the controls of a 179-tonne locomotive, all railway personnel must coordinate
their actions through the central control point.
In the event of a malfunction, signal lights are wired to prohibit two trains from occupying the same zone - or
automatic block - along the main line.
Controllers make sure that locomotive engineers are aware of all potentially conflicting traffic movements, slow
orders, work crew movements, and any other factors which may affect the progress of a train. They in turn are fed
information by train crews and railway personnel working along the right-of-way.
If there is a problem of any kind, the controller is the first person away from the scene to be advised.
Controllers enter commands into microprocessor keyboards tied in with CP Rail's transcontinental computer
system.
This CP Rail News article is copyright
1987 by the Canadian Pacific Railway and is reprinted here with their
permission. All photographs, logos, and trademarks are the property of the Canadian Pacific Railway
Company.
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