1 00:00:02,002 --> 00:00:03,837 - [Narrator] It's the greatest freight transportation system 2 00:00:03,971 --> 00:00:04,805 in the world. 3 00:00:06,206 --> 00:00:09,576 A complex network woven into the very fabric 4 00:00:09,710 --> 00:00:10,978 of the United States. 5 00:00:13,113 --> 00:00:14,414 From the early iron horses 6 00:00:15,883 --> 00:00:17,818 to today's sleek steel stallions. 7 00:00:19,086 --> 00:00:20,654 They grind up hillsides, 8 00:00:20,787 --> 00:00:22,823 snake through valleys, 9 00:00:22,956 --> 00:00:26,560 thunder across prairies to deliver the goods. 10 00:00:27,694 --> 00:00:31,064 Now, Freight Trains Plus on Modern Marvels. 11 00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:35,536 (intense electronic music) 12 00:00:46,546 --> 00:00:48,882 Welcome to North Platte, Nebraska, 13 00:00:49,016 --> 00:00:51,151 home of the largest rail yard in the world, 14 00:00:52,953 --> 00:00:55,322 Union Pacific's Bailey Yard. 15 00:00:56,456 --> 00:00:59,526 - The yard is approximately 3,500 acres. 16 00:00:59,660 --> 00:01:02,562 It's eight miles long, about two miles wide, 17 00:01:02,696 --> 00:01:05,065 no other rail facility like it in the world. 18 00:01:05,198 --> 00:01:08,735 - [Narrator] Rail yards are the hubs of railroad operations. 19 00:01:08,869 --> 00:01:10,971 Here, freight cars from across the system 20 00:01:11,104 --> 00:01:13,073 are funneled in, sorted, 21 00:01:13,206 --> 00:01:15,342 and then reassigned to new trains 22 00:01:15,475 --> 00:01:18,145 that will bring them closer to their final destination. 23 00:01:18,278 --> 00:01:20,247 - Just about anything that's produced in the United States 24 00:01:20,380 --> 00:01:21,715 is shipped by rail. 25 00:01:21,848 --> 00:01:25,752 So if you're talking about wine or cheese, fresh vegetables, 26 00:01:25,886 --> 00:01:29,556 televisions, radios, automobiles, automobile parts, 27 00:01:29,690 --> 00:01:32,559 you name it, just about everything that America uses 28 00:01:32,693 --> 00:01:34,895 on a daily basis comes through North Platte. 29 00:01:36,596 --> 00:01:38,732 - [Narrator] The Bailey Yard is strategically located 30 00:01:38,865 --> 00:01:41,368 in the center of the Union Pacific rail network. 31 00:01:43,904 --> 00:01:45,672 The facility is so large, 32 00:01:45,806 --> 00:01:47,307 you can't see more than a third of it 33 00:01:47,441 --> 00:01:49,042 from any point in the yard. 34 00:01:52,546 --> 00:01:54,748 Well, that is except from the computer screens 35 00:01:54,881 --> 00:01:55,816 of the command center, 36 00:01:55,949 --> 00:01:58,385 (inquisitive music) 37 00:01:58,518 --> 00:02:00,921 where all rail activity on the yard is monitored. 38 00:02:04,291 --> 00:02:07,094 - What we do in the BCC, Bailey Command Center, 39 00:02:07,227 --> 00:02:08,695 is coordinating movement 40 00:02:08,829 --> 00:02:11,531 of between 130 and 180 trains per day. 41 00:02:13,033 --> 00:02:15,168 - [Narrator] Utilizing computer based controls, 42 00:02:15,302 --> 00:02:16,903 the Center monitors all traffic 43 00:02:17,037 --> 00:02:20,207 over Bailey Yard's 315 miles of track. 44 00:02:21,375 --> 00:02:23,310 In addition to locomotive movements, 45 00:02:23,443 --> 00:02:26,046 workers process 14,000 freight cars 46 00:02:26,179 --> 00:02:27,481 through the yard each day. 47 00:02:28,782 --> 00:02:30,250 For some of these cars, 48 00:02:30,384 --> 00:02:33,487 their first stop is one of the two classification yards, 49 00:02:33,620 --> 00:02:34,888 or "hump yards". 50 00:02:35,022 --> 00:02:37,791 - This is where we process eastbound trains. 51 00:02:37,924 --> 00:02:41,194 Trains that come into North Platte are gonna be sorted here 52 00:02:41,328 --> 00:02:43,363 to their four destinations. 53 00:02:43,497 --> 00:02:45,899 So we are taking these cars apart 54 00:02:46,033 --> 00:02:47,501 that have come in on a train 55 00:02:47,634 --> 00:02:49,169 and then we're sorting them to go out 56 00:02:49,302 --> 00:02:52,339 to destinations, further points from here. 57 00:02:52,472 --> 00:02:55,709 - [Narrator] The hump is a three story manmade hill 58 00:02:55,842 --> 00:02:58,779 that allows up to four cars a minute to roll into its bowl. 59 00:02:59,980 --> 00:03:01,882 - Gravity pulls 'em off the hill. 60 00:03:02,015 --> 00:03:03,850 The computer picks up the weight of the car 61 00:03:03,984 --> 00:03:05,952 as it goes over the scale rails here. 62 00:03:07,554 --> 00:03:08,755 - [Narrator] The car then passes 63 00:03:08,889 --> 00:03:12,492 through a system of computerized retarders, or brakes, 64 00:03:12,626 --> 00:03:15,629 that pinch the wheels as they go through to slow the car down. 65 00:03:18,565 --> 00:03:20,167 - It slows them down accordingly, 66 00:03:20,300 --> 00:03:23,036 not only to distance that it needs to travel 67 00:03:23,170 --> 00:03:24,571 to the other end, 68 00:03:24,704 --> 00:03:28,208 but it also computes how much distance is left in the rail. 69 00:03:28,341 --> 00:03:30,610 And the computer will go all the way from 12 mile an hour 70 00:03:30,744 --> 00:03:32,779 down to one mile an hour if necessary 71 00:03:32,913 --> 00:03:35,148 to allow for safe and careful handling 72 00:03:35,282 --> 00:03:37,284 of the freight that's inside these cars. 73 00:03:37,417 --> 00:03:39,419 It's pretty amazing that the amount of tonnage 74 00:03:39,553 --> 00:03:40,821 that's going over this hill, 75 00:03:40,954 --> 00:03:42,355 how softly it's handled 76 00:03:42,489 --> 00:03:44,891 down here when it hits the bottom end of things. 77 00:03:46,026 --> 00:03:47,527 - [Narrator] The destination of each car 78 00:03:47,661 --> 00:03:49,096 is entered into a computer. 79 00:03:50,831 --> 00:03:52,766 It automatically switches the track 80 00:03:52,899 --> 00:03:55,602 so the car rolls directly onto its assigned rail. 81 00:03:57,304 --> 00:03:59,306 - At the trim tower at the other end of the ball 82 00:03:59,439 --> 00:04:00,474 are trim crews 83 00:04:00,607 --> 00:04:02,476 and what they do is they actually build the trains 84 00:04:02,609 --> 00:04:04,144 that are gonna leave North Platte. 85 00:04:04,277 --> 00:04:05,445 So we take 'em apart here 86 00:04:05,579 --> 00:04:07,681 and they put 'em back together down there. 87 00:04:09,316 --> 00:04:11,218 - [Narrator] Remote controlled switch engines, 88 00:04:11,351 --> 00:04:12,552 less powerful locomotives 89 00:04:12,686 --> 00:04:14,788 used for switching cars in a rail yard, 90 00:04:15,756 --> 00:04:17,090 assemble the trains 91 00:04:17,224 --> 00:04:19,326 when enough freight cars going to a single location 92 00:04:19,459 --> 00:04:20,327 have been humped. 93 00:04:21,728 --> 00:04:25,432 - The hump used to be the focal point of the railroad yard. 94 00:04:25,565 --> 00:04:28,635 Pretty much all traffic was handled in this fashion. 95 00:04:28,768 --> 00:04:32,339 What's changed that has taken the pressure off of this, 96 00:04:32,472 --> 00:04:34,374 are trains like you see leaving over there. 97 00:04:34,508 --> 00:04:37,811 They leave their originating point all in one big chunk, 98 00:04:37,944 --> 00:04:40,614 they arrive at their destination in one big chunk. 99 00:04:40,747 --> 00:04:42,015 - [Narrator] Unit freight, 100 00:04:42,149 --> 00:04:44,851 or an entire train consisting of the same type of freight, 101 00:04:44,985 --> 00:04:47,654 like a coal train, is treated differently 102 00:04:47,788 --> 00:04:49,790 since it doesn't need to be reassigned. 103 00:04:50,790 --> 00:04:53,894 For unit freight, there are 26 run-through tracks, 104 00:04:54,027 --> 00:04:55,428 some with pad areas, 105 00:04:55,562 --> 00:04:58,431 which allow trains to pull up, refuel, and depart 106 00:04:58,565 --> 00:05:01,668 without having to detach from the locomotive. 107 00:05:01,802 --> 00:05:03,170 - Every train that comes in 108 00:05:03,303 --> 00:05:07,007 must have a mechanical inspection by our car forces. 109 00:05:08,909 --> 00:05:12,078 We have a NASCAR pit team concept for our locomotives. 110 00:05:12,212 --> 00:05:14,614 They're a team of five men and women 111 00:05:14,748 --> 00:05:16,516 that attack each locomotive that comes in, 112 00:05:16,650 --> 00:05:18,118 whether they have to be fueled, 113 00:05:18,251 --> 00:05:19,319 their oil has to be checked, 114 00:05:19,452 --> 00:05:20,487 they shine the windshields, 115 00:05:20,620 --> 00:05:22,455 they get the locomotive ready to go. 116 00:05:22,589 --> 00:05:24,624 - Our goal is to do it in 45 minutes 117 00:05:24,758 --> 00:05:26,626 to service the train completely. 118 00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:29,396 And then we expect the train crew to be here 119 00:05:29,529 --> 00:05:31,531 as soon as we drop our protection, 120 00:05:31,665 --> 00:05:33,033 which is blue flags. 121 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:36,136 - [Narrator] In addition to these pit stops, 122 00:05:36,269 --> 00:05:39,339 the Bailey Yard boasts a locomotive repair depot 123 00:05:39,472 --> 00:05:42,242 the size of five football fields. 124 00:05:42,375 --> 00:05:44,911 - This is not a heavy duty repair facility. 125 00:05:45,045 --> 00:05:48,114 What we do here is quarterly maintenance, 126 00:05:48,248 --> 00:05:51,017 semi-annual, annual and tri-annual 127 00:05:51,151 --> 00:05:53,153 standard maintenance on our locomotives. 128 00:05:56,189 --> 00:05:57,524 - [Narrator] And just as important, 129 00:05:57,657 --> 00:06:00,227 rail cars are serviced at the Bailey Yard as well. 130 00:06:06,266 --> 00:06:08,368 - Part of the issue we have with derailments on occasion 131 00:06:08,501 --> 00:06:11,972 are our wheels or axles failing en route. 132 00:06:12,105 --> 00:06:13,840 And so our car department employees 133 00:06:13,974 --> 00:06:16,576 really focus in on the conditions of wheels and axles 134 00:06:16,710 --> 00:06:19,379 as they're coming through our run-through facilities. 135 00:06:20,847 --> 00:06:22,849 - [Narrator] Four person crews sort, service, 136 00:06:22,983 --> 00:06:25,285 and repair locomotive tires at the train car. 137 00:06:27,187 --> 00:06:30,323 The repair facility handles roughly 50 cars daily, 138 00:06:31,424 --> 00:06:34,594 totaling approximately 10,000 pairs of wheels each year. 139 00:06:36,096 --> 00:06:38,698 What used to take 12 days to repair, 140 00:06:38,832 --> 00:06:40,900 takes crews 8 to 12 minutes 141 00:06:41,001 --> 00:06:42,535 to get a train back on track. 142 00:06:44,004 --> 00:06:45,305 And most important of all, 143 00:06:45,438 --> 00:06:47,274 are the people at the Bailey Yard. 144 00:06:47,407 --> 00:06:48,608 Today, the train yard is home 145 00:06:48,742 --> 00:06:51,912 to approximately 2,000 Union Pacific employees 146 00:06:52,045 --> 00:06:55,248 that work around the clock, 365 days a year, 147 00:06:56,383 --> 00:06:59,552 inspecting over 14,000 freight cars a day 148 00:06:59,686 --> 00:07:01,321 and keeping freight moving. 149 00:07:02,322 --> 00:07:05,592 - There's an absolute production mandate at North Platte. 150 00:07:05,725 --> 00:07:09,829 Whether it's rain, snow, sun, blizzard, high winds, 151 00:07:09,963 --> 00:07:13,033 we must hit those production targets because if we don't 152 00:07:13,166 --> 00:07:15,201 we will back up the railroad on both sides 153 00:07:15,335 --> 00:07:17,637 and we cannot have that kind of impact 154 00:07:17,771 --> 00:07:19,339 on the Union Pacific system. 155 00:07:23,109 --> 00:07:25,412 - [Narrator] The Bailey Yard may be the largest rail yard 156 00:07:25,545 --> 00:07:28,214 servicing the largest railroad in North America, 157 00:07:29,649 --> 00:07:32,652 but it's also a mammoth cog in a much larger machine. 158 00:07:36,856 --> 00:07:39,859 We're talking about an $80 billion a year industry. 159 00:07:39,993 --> 00:07:43,596 (soft rock music) 160 00:07:44,964 --> 00:07:46,399 A system so large, 161 00:07:46,533 --> 00:07:49,636 it encompasses over 140,000 miles of track 162 00:07:50,737 --> 00:07:52,272 and extends to nearly every corner 163 00:07:52,405 --> 00:07:54,207 of the continental United States. 164 00:07:55,308 --> 00:07:56,910 And it's more than that. 165 00:07:57,043 --> 00:07:59,813 It's approximately 38,000 locomotives, 166 00:07:59,946 --> 00:08:02,248 1.7 million freight cars. 167 00:08:02,382 --> 00:08:04,951 Its trains average 100 cars long, 168 00:08:05,085 --> 00:08:06,720 extending over a mile and a half. 169 00:08:08,288 --> 00:08:10,457 It's 1.8 billion tons of freight 170 00:08:10,590 --> 00:08:12,125 crossing the country each year. 171 00:08:13,860 --> 00:08:15,428 But it was the movement of freight 172 00:08:15,562 --> 00:08:16,629 that was the driving force 173 00:08:16,763 --> 00:08:18,498 behind the creation of the railroad. 174 00:08:24,537 --> 00:08:26,306 The railroad business traces its roots 175 00:08:26,439 --> 00:08:29,075 back to rudimentary horse drawn carts like these. 176 00:08:30,744 --> 00:08:32,479 Navigating rails in coal mines 177 00:08:32,612 --> 00:08:34,681 and stone quarries in the 1820s. 178 00:08:35,949 --> 00:08:37,717 - The whole principle is 179 00:08:37,851 --> 00:08:40,453 that you have steel wheels on steel rails 180 00:08:40,587 --> 00:08:43,223 and that lowers the coefficient of friction. 181 00:08:43,356 --> 00:08:47,060 You could pull more with less power on a steel rail 182 00:08:47,193 --> 00:08:48,828 than if you were trying to pull a wagon 183 00:08:48,962 --> 00:08:51,664 over the mud or dirt roads. 184 00:08:52,966 --> 00:08:54,534 - [Narrator] Rail ways that utilized horses 185 00:08:54,667 --> 00:08:57,170 to move public goods soon emerged. 186 00:08:57,303 --> 00:08:59,839 - After 1830, when it was the Tom Thumb 187 00:08:59,973 --> 00:09:02,208 and the first successful steam engines, 188 00:09:02,342 --> 00:09:05,178 the best friend of Charleston and those early ones, 189 00:09:05,311 --> 00:09:08,048 they proved that steam was reliable 190 00:09:08,181 --> 00:09:10,717 and more powerful than horsepower. 191 00:09:11,785 --> 00:09:13,386 - [Narrator] Steam engines quickly replaced 192 00:09:13,520 --> 00:09:15,522 horses and mules on rail operations. 193 00:09:17,123 --> 00:09:19,759 And it didn't take long for railroad entrepreneurs 194 00:09:19,893 --> 00:09:21,161 to set their sights 195 00:09:21,294 --> 00:09:23,229 on capturing the American freight business, 196 00:09:24,664 --> 00:09:27,867 a market cornered by the growing east coast canals. 197 00:09:27,967 --> 00:09:30,904 - Just about the time it was taking them to build the canals 198 00:09:31,037 --> 00:09:33,106 to a standard where they would be really useful, 199 00:09:33,239 --> 00:09:35,742 you could build a railroad next to the canal 200 00:09:35,875 --> 00:09:39,846 and just beat the pants off the canal boats with a train. 201 00:09:39,979 --> 00:09:41,514 And the railroad simply 202 00:09:41,648 --> 00:09:43,383 technologically replaced the canals 203 00:09:43,516 --> 00:09:44,517 almost overnight. 204 00:09:47,153 --> 00:09:48,488 - [Narrator] Laborers built tracks 205 00:09:48,621 --> 00:09:50,123 as fast as humanly possible. 206 00:09:51,224 --> 00:09:53,726 By the 1850s, railroad tracks extended 207 00:09:53,860 --> 00:09:55,995 from the east coast to the Great Lakes. 208 00:09:57,397 --> 00:10:01,267 In 1869, the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads 209 00:10:01,401 --> 00:10:03,970 met at Promontory Summit, Utah, 210 00:10:04,104 --> 00:10:06,306 and completed the Transcontinental Railroad. 211 00:10:08,808 --> 00:10:12,212 - The railroad business expanded very rapidly 212 00:10:12,345 --> 00:10:14,447 because you could make a lot of money at it. 213 00:10:14,581 --> 00:10:16,883 There was hardly a hauler in West Virginia 214 00:10:17,016 --> 00:10:20,186 that didn't have a branch line reaching a coal mine. 215 00:10:20,320 --> 00:10:24,124 There was hardly a hill or valley in the Pacific Northwest 216 00:10:24,257 --> 00:10:26,593 that didn't have a lumber railroad in it. 217 00:10:26,726 --> 00:10:30,029 - [Narrator] Railroads changed the landscape of America, 218 00:10:30,163 --> 00:10:32,432 creating new towns along their tracks, 219 00:10:33,299 --> 00:10:34,701 supplying the new population 220 00:10:34,834 --> 00:10:37,871 with building materials and other necessities, 221 00:10:38,004 --> 00:10:40,974 and carrying far flung crops to markets back east. 222 00:10:41,808 --> 00:10:44,244 - They could send their money and their gold and stuff 223 00:10:44,377 --> 00:10:46,613 back from California to the bankers in the east. 224 00:10:46,746 --> 00:10:49,782 All of the things that people wanted and needed 225 00:10:49,916 --> 00:10:51,351 could be brought in by train. 226 00:10:52,352 --> 00:10:53,887 - [Narrator] But moving America's freight 227 00:10:54,020 --> 00:10:55,889 didn't become the complex system of rails 228 00:10:56,022 --> 00:10:58,525 that stretches to every corner of the nation overnight. 229 00:11:03,496 --> 00:11:05,131 - [Narrator] Today, American railroads 230 00:11:05,265 --> 00:11:07,834 move more than 5,000 ton miles of freight 231 00:11:07,967 --> 00:11:09,302 per person every year, 232 00:11:09,435 --> 00:11:11,571 more than any country in the world. 233 00:11:11,704 --> 00:11:13,840 But getting there began with tycoons 234 00:11:14,908 --> 00:11:17,877 like Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jay Gould, 235 00:11:18,011 --> 00:11:21,347 and Leland Stanford, competing to dominate the market. 236 00:11:21,481 --> 00:11:23,082 - What separates the United States 237 00:11:23,216 --> 00:11:24,651 from the rest of the world is 238 00:11:24,784 --> 00:11:27,587 that the American railroads were all private enterprise. 239 00:11:27,720 --> 00:11:29,589 They were all private companies, 240 00:11:29,722 --> 00:11:31,391 highly competitive companies, 241 00:11:31,524 --> 00:11:34,894 often run by robber barons who would have financial wars 242 00:11:35,028 --> 00:11:36,129 and the whole business. 243 00:11:37,430 --> 00:11:38,798 - [Narrator] Due to the infighting 244 00:11:38,932 --> 00:11:40,567 among the rival railroads, 245 00:11:40,700 --> 00:11:43,836 no cohesive system existed to move freight efficiently 246 00:11:43,970 --> 00:11:46,372 across the various independently owned lines. 247 00:11:47,707 --> 00:11:48,975 - During the first world war, 248 00:11:49,108 --> 00:11:50,810 there was concern that the railroads wouldn't be able 249 00:11:50,944 --> 00:11:53,313 to keep up with the demand for service, 250 00:11:53,446 --> 00:11:54,647 and the federal government 251 00:11:54,781 --> 00:11:57,183 took over the operation of the railroads 252 00:11:57,317 --> 00:12:00,019 under the United States Railway Administration. 253 00:12:00,153 --> 00:12:04,357 Their idea was to standardize railroad operating procedures 254 00:12:04,490 --> 00:12:06,759 and try to make the railroads more efficient. 255 00:12:08,361 --> 00:12:09,762 - [Narrator] Soon after the war, 256 00:12:09,896 --> 00:12:12,632 the government returned the rails to private enterprise. 257 00:12:12,765 --> 00:12:15,602 20 years later by World War II, 258 00:12:15,735 --> 00:12:17,503 a collection of independent railroads 259 00:12:17,637 --> 00:12:20,006 operated as a coordinated system 260 00:12:20,139 --> 00:12:22,242 and no government intervention was needed. 261 00:12:24,777 --> 00:12:26,312 The steel backbone of the nation 262 00:12:26,446 --> 00:12:28,214 played its part in winning the war. 263 00:12:29,082 --> 00:12:30,416 But by the 1950s, 264 00:12:30,550 --> 00:12:33,019 the railroads monopoly on freight transportation 265 00:12:33,152 --> 00:12:34,153 was quickly eroded. 266 00:12:35,722 --> 00:12:38,958 Trucking and the newly created interstate highway system 267 00:12:39,092 --> 00:12:41,294 threatened to derail the railroads. 268 00:12:41,427 --> 00:12:42,562 - Then, the railroads, 269 00:12:42,695 --> 00:12:45,898 which were a network of little feudal domains 270 00:12:46,032 --> 00:12:48,468 of different railroads all competing with each other 271 00:12:48,601 --> 00:12:52,272 in a system that was set up to compete among each other, 272 00:12:52,405 --> 00:12:53,873 were suddenly having to compete 273 00:12:54,007 --> 00:12:56,109 with a new outside competitor. 274 00:12:57,877 --> 00:12:59,979 - [Narrator] Railroads responded by merging 275 00:13:00,113 --> 00:13:02,015 as well as upgrading and modernizing. 276 00:13:04,117 --> 00:13:06,619 And today, freight trains are still the number one way 277 00:13:06,753 --> 00:13:08,554 to move goods long distances. 278 00:13:10,523 --> 00:13:12,859 An early pioneer was General Electric. 279 00:13:14,794 --> 00:13:18,898 Since 1907, GE owned and manufactured locomotives. 280 00:13:20,066 --> 00:13:21,934 At this factory in Erie, Pennsylvania, 281 00:13:22,068 --> 00:13:26,739 208 ton, 44,000 horsepower diesel electric beasts 282 00:13:26,873 --> 00:13:28,908 roared to life. 283 00:13:29,042 --> 00:13:31,778 General Electric needs approximately 26 days 284 00:13:31,911 --> 00:13:34,847 to completely build one of these steel giants. 285 00:13:34,981 --> 00:13:36,015 And the last 12 days 286 00:13:36,149 --> 00:13:38,484 are spent in this final assembly building. 287 00:13:38,618 --> 00:13:40,119 - This is station one, 288 00:13:40,253 --> 00:13:43,956 the first station of a four station final assembly process 289 00:13:44,090 --> 00:13:45,458 for the locomotive. 290 00:13:45,591 --> 00:13:48,461 In station one, you can see where the platform is brought in 291 00:13:48,594 --> 00:13:51,431 and inverted in the upside down position. 292 00:13:54,267 --> 00:13:56,436 - [Narrator] Workers install sensitive electronics 293 00:13:56,569 --> 00:13:58,204 and piping to the undercarriage. 294 00:13:59,706 --> 00:14:02,408 Next, is a staging area for pre-built components 295 00:14:02,542 --> 00:14:04,477 waiting to be installed. 296 00:14:04,610 --> 00:14:08,014 - This is an example of the Evolution Series engine 297 00:14:08,147 --> 00:14:09,482 that is really the heart and soul 298 00:14:09,615 --> 00:14:11,417 of the Evolution Series locomotive. 299 00:14:11,551 --> 00:14:14,320 - [Narrator] The 44,000 horsepower diesel engine 300 00:14:14,454 --> 00:14:16,489 produces with 12 cylinders 301 00:14:16,622 --> 00:14:20,360 what the previous engines needed 16 cylinders to accomplish. 302 00:14:20,493 --> 00:14:23,129 - The new Evolution Series locomotive engine 303 00:14:23,262 --> 00:14:25,198 is three percent more fuel efficient 304 00:14:25,331 --> 00:14:27,834 than its predecessor engines. 305 00:14:27,967 --> 00:14:29,068 The average locomotive 306 00:14:29,202 --> 00:14:33,473 will burn approximately 350,000 gallons a year. 307 00:14:33,606 --> 00:14:36,075 And if you expand that over a 20 year life, 308 00:14:36,209 --> 00:14:39,078 the three percent improvement in fuel efficiency 309 00:14:39,212 --> 00:14:42,515 correlates to about 200,000 gallons 310 00:14:42,648 --> 00:14:46,185 less diesel fuel is burned over the life of the product. 311 00:14:47,820 --> 00:14:49,822 - [Narrator] With the frame now upright, 312 00:14:49,956 --> 00:14:51,190 the engine and other components 313 00:14:51,324 --> 00:14:53,159 are ready to be put in place. 314 00:14:53,292 --> 00:14:54,360 - [Pete] This is really 315 00:14:54,494 --> 00:14:56,028 where the locomotive assembly process 316 00:14:56,162 --> 00:14:58,564 turns into an automated assembly line. 317 00:14:58,698 --> 00:15:01,567 The platform from station one is brought down 318 00:15:01,701 --> 00:15:04,070 and put into its upright position. 319 00:15:04,203 --> 00:15:05,571 And here we will start to place 320 00:15:05,705 --> 00:15:08,941 the individual cabs and components on the platform 321 00:15:09,075 --> 00:15:12,278 and start to do the final assembly of the locomotive. 322 00:15:15,414 --> 00:15:17,183 - [Narrator] The locomotive starts taking shape 323 00:15:17,316 --> 00:15:19,051 as it advances down the line 324 00:15:19,185 --> 00:15:20,286 in what workers call, 325 00:15:20,420 --> 00:15:22,688 "the world's largest air hockey table". 326 00:15:23,823 --> 00:15:25,424 - What happens is, we'll connect an air hose 327 00:15:25,558 --> 00:15:26,859 to the air jacks, 328 00:15:26,993 --> 00:15:30,496 the air will slightly elevate the locomotive platform 329 00:15:30,630 --> 00:15:34,000 and move it down from one workstation to the other, 330 00:15:34,133 --> 00:15:36,402 which is kind of impressive when you think of 331 00:15:36,536 --> 00:15:38,938 as it nears the final workstation, 332 00:15:39,071 --> 00:15:41,073 it's over 300,000 pounds. 333 00:15:42,341 --> 00:15:44,010 - [Narrator] But the 75 foot long, 334 00:15:44,143 --> 00:15:48,114 16 foot high steel behemoths aren't finished yet. 335 00:15:48,247 --> 00:15:50,650 - At this point, the locomotive is essentially complete 336 00:15:50,783 --> 00:15:52,585 except for the truck assemblies. 337 00:15:52,718 --> 00:15:54,587 From here, we'll lift the locomotive assembly 338 00:15:54,720 --> 00:15:57,390 off the air jacks and take it over to station four. 339 00:15:58,825 --> 00:16:02,061 - [Narrator] A crane operator lifts the 150 ton locomotive 340 00:16:02,195 --> 00:16:03,329 over the factory floor 341 00:16:04,997 --> 00:16:07,900 and deposits it gently onto a set of trucks 342 00:16:08,000 --> 00:16:09,168 or wheel assemblies. 343 00:16:14,807 --> 00:16:17,243 - After the locomotive is completed in station four, 344 00:16:17,376 --> 00:16:19,712 it is brought back to one of our paint booths. 345 00:16:19,846 --> 00:16:22,215 And as you can see here, it's in the initial stages 346 00:16:22,348 --> 00:16:25,551 of being prepared for the final paint job. 347 00:16:25,685 --> 00:16:27,119 - [Narrator] Specific colors and logos 348 00:16:27,253 --> 00:16:28,821 to identify a company's freight 349 00:16:28,955 --> 00:16:30,957 is key for safety and brand recognition. 350 00:16:31,824 --> 00:16:33,159 And with that, 351 00:16:33,292 --> 00:16:36,229 a custom paint job is complete for this BNSF locomotive. 352 00:16:41,300 --> 00:16:42,535 In the initial years of 353 00:16:42,668 --> 00:16:44,270 the biggest obstacle was simply 354 00:16:44,403 --> 00:16:46,839 making sure the trains carrying expensive cargo 355 00:16:46,973 --> 00:16:48,307 could go the distance. 356 00:16:49,909 --> 00:16:52,812 This shiny new goliath is much smarter and much cleaner 357 00:16:52,945 --> 00:16:54,847 than the power and might that ruled the rails 358 00:16:54,981 --> 00:16:56,883 for nearly two centuries before. 359 00:16:59,919 --> 00:17:01,854 - The development of the steam locomotive 360 00:17:01,988 --> 00:17:05,124 was both evolutionary and revolutionary. 361 00:17:05,258 --> 00:17:08,127 The biggest problem initially was finding the proportions, 362 00:17:08,261 --> 00:17:11,397 the proportions between the boiler, the cylinders, 363 00:17:11,530 --> 00:17:14,267 the drivers and the linkage mechanism. 364 00:17:14,400 --> 00:17:17,203 The first locomotive that really got it all right 365 00:17:17,336 --> 00:17:18,371 in the right proportions 366 00:17:18,504 --> 00:17:20,806 was a locomotive called the John Bull. 367 00:17:22,675 --> 00:17:24,710 - [Narrator] Mechanics put the John Bull into commission 368 00:17:24,844 --> 00:17:28,781 in 1831 and it became the first locomotive ever 369 00:17:28,915 --> 00:17:29,916 to be duplicated. 370 00:17:30,750 --> 00:17:33,753 But the wood burning model was quickly outmoded 371 00:17:33,886 --> 00:17:36,689 as locomotives increased rapidly in size and power. 372 00:17:38,824 --> 00:17:41,527 - Wood was used generally in the American railroads 373 00:17:41,661 --> 00:17:43,896 till sometime right after the civil war. 374 00:17:44,030 --> 00:17:46,933 And what happened was that a lot of territories 375 00:17:47,066 --> 00:17:48,100 that the railroads are going in, 376 00:17:48,234 --> 00:17:49,435 in the prairies and the plains, 377 00:17:49,568 --> 00:17:51,370 the weren't any trees around. 378 00:17:52,238 --> 00:17:53,606 - [Narrator] Most locomotives 379 00:17:53,739 --> 00:17:56,642 introduced at the end of the 19th century burned coal. 380 00:17:56,776 --> 00:18:01,314 - Back in those days, about every three, four years, 381 00:18:01,447 --> 00:18:03,182 you'd get a larger locomotive. 382 00:18:03,316 --> 00:18:05,718 They just kept advancing the technology 383 00:18:05,851 --> 00:18:07,486 every couple of years. 384 00:18:07,620 --> 00:18:08,921 And it's like your automobile. 385 00:18:09,055 --> 00:18:11,190 Somebody would come out with a new model 386 00:18:11,324 --> 00:18:14,493 and the railroads would try it out and find out that, 387 00:18:14,627 --> 00:18:18,097 yeah, this is pretty efficient and we'll buy some of these. 388 00:18:18,230 --> 00:18:19,932 - [Narrator] Early 20th century locomotives 389 00:18:20,066 --> 00:18:22,001 easily dwarfed their predecessors. 390 00:18:23,436 --> 00:18:25,638 Their size and power may have changed drastically. 391 00:18:26,872 --> 00:18:28,975 However, there were a few fundamental changes 392 00:18:29,108 --> 00:18:30,042 in how they worked. 393 00:18:32,878 --> 00:18:35,881 Pressurized steam enters one side of the cylinder 394 00:18:36,015 --> 00:18:37,416 and pushes the piston away. 395 00:18:38,551 --> 00:18:40,653 A valve shifts the steam to the other side 396 00:18:40,786 --> 00:18:42,488 and forces the piston back. 397 00:18:43,589 --> 00:18:44,790 A series of connected rods 398 00:18:44,924 --> 00:18:47,193 convert the pistons back and forth motion 399 00:18:47,326 --> 00:18:49,261 to the rotational motion of the wheels. 400 00:18:51,063 --> 00:18:52,632 By the second World War, 401 00:18:52,765 --> 00:18:54,867 the steam locomotive had reached its pinnacle 402 00:18:54,967 --> 00:18:56,369 of technological development 403 00:18:57,803 --> 00:18:59,839 and it had an unlikely replacement. 404 00:19:02,441 --> 00:19:06,445 - The diesel was introduced in the 1920s. 405 00:19:06,579 --> 00:19:10,883 It was not considered to be a real road worthy locomotive. 406 00:19:11,017 --> 00:19:12,885 They were used in switch engines. 407 00:19:13,019 --> 00:19:14,286 They were used in specialties. 408 00:19:14,420 --> 00:19:16,522 They were used in lightweight streamliners, 409 00:19:16,656 --> 00:19:18,858 but they weren't really considered a threat. 410 00:19:20,826 --> 00:19:23,696 The Electro-Motive Corporation in Cleveland, Ohio, 411 00:19:23,829 --> 00:19:26,298 decided that until they could replace 412 00:19:26,432 --> 00:19:28,601 a full size steam locomotive with a diesel, 413 00:19:28,734 --> 00:19:30,403 the diesel wasn't gonna get anywhere. 414 00:19:30,536 --> 00:19:35,941 So in 1939, they created the FT freight diesel, 415 00:19:36,075 --> 00:19:37,343 which was a two unit diesel, 416 00:19:37,476 --> 00:19:40,212 had two 16 cylinder engines, 417 00:19:40,346 --> 00:19:42,948 rated at 1,350 horsepower each. 418 00:19:43,082 --> 00:19:44,750 And that locomotive 419 00:19:44,884 --> 00:19:47,353 single handedly killed the steam engine. 420 00:19:48,287 --> 00:19:50,089 - [Narrator] For railroaders like Bernie O'Brien 421 00:19:50,222 --> 00:19:52,558 who spent decades working on steam locomotives, 422 00:19:52,692 --> 00:19:54,994 like the Union Pacific Challenger, 423 00:19:55,127 --> 00:19:57,096 the switch to diesel was bittersweet. 424 00:19:58,330 --> 00:20:01,033 - It was a sad thing for me to see that happen. 425 00:20:01,167 --> 00:20:04,637 Our last Challengers were only six years old 426 00:20:04,770 --> 00:20:06,372 when they phased them out of service, 427 00:20:06,505 --> 00:20:09,809 which is just pretty hard to believe. 428 00:20:09,942 --> 00:20:13,012 - The steam locomotive did not fail as a machine 429 00:20:13,145 --> 00:20:15,247 because it wasn't a good puller of freight. 430 00:20:15,381 --> 00:20:18,818 The steam locomotive was extremely labor intensive 431 00:20:18,951 --> 00:20:22,121 and it required a lot of care. 432 00:20:22,254 --> 00:20:23,923 The diesel is like your automobile. 433 00:20:24,056 --> 00:20:27,226 It's automatic, you fire it up and it goes. 434 00:20:27,359 --> 00:20:29,195 - [Narrator] The mechanics of a diesel locomotive 435 00:20:29,328 --> 00:20:31,897 are very different from those of a steam engine. 436 00:20:33,899 --> 00:20:36,102 In the cylinder, a fuel air mixture 437 00:20:36,235 --> 00:20:39,538 is compressed by the piston to a point where it ignites. 438 00:20:39,672 --> 00:20:41,974 The explosion forces the piston down, 439 00:20:42,108 --> 00:20:43,476 which turns the crank shaft. 440 00:20:44,910 --> 00:20:48,013 An alternator then converts the motion of the crank shaft 441 00:20:48,147 --> 00:20:49,849 into electrical power, 442 00:20:49,982 --> 00:20:53,853 which is fed down to individual traction motors on each axle 443 00:20:53,986 --> 00:20:55,721 to turn the wheels of a locomotive. 444 00:20:57,690 --> 00:21:00,192 - Well, one of the advantages of diesel power 445 00:21:00,326 --> 00:21:03,729 is that you could couple as many units together 446 00:21:03,863 --> 00:21:06,832 as you needed for power to get it over the the road. 447 00:21:06,966 --> 00:21:08,968 It just depends upon how much power you needed. 448 00:21:09,101 --> 00:21:13,572 And one man controlled all of those units. 449 00:21:13,706 --> 00:21:15,241 - [Narrator] Like their steam predecessors, 450 00:21:15,374 --> 00:21:18,210 each generation of diesel electric locomotives 451 00:21:18,344 --> 00:21:21,447 continue to outpace the last. 452 00:21:21,580 --> 00:21:22,782 Today's freight locomotives 453 00:21:22,915 --> 00:21:25,050 are able to haul more tonnage than ever, 454 00:21:25,184 --> 00:21:27,920 but it's a feat that requires more than just horsepower. 455 00:21:32,958 --> 00:21:34,960 - [Narrator] With its punishing uphill grade, 456 00:21:35,094 --> 00:21:37,630 tight curves, and steep descent, 457 00:21:37,763 --> 00:21:39,899 southern California's Cajon Pass 458 00:21:40,032 --> 00:21:42,168 is one of the most treacherous railroad routes 459 00:21:42,301 --> 00:21:44,703 in the United States. 460 00:21:44,837 --> 00:21:46,639 Patrick Marquez, 461 00:21:46,772 --> 00:21:50,142 a locomotive engineer for the Burlington Northern Santa Fe, 462 00:21:50,276 --> 00:21:52,845 used to make the grinding journey up the mountain pass 463 00:21:52,978 --> 00:21:54,046 several times a week. 464 00:21:55,214 --> 00:21:57,650 He does this with a mile and a half of freight, 465 00:21:57,783 --> 00:21:59,985 which weighs upwards of 6,000 tons 466 00:22:00,119 --> 00:22:01,554 trailing behind the engines. 467 00:22:04,190 --> 00:22:06,058 It's normally a two-man operation, 468 00:22:06,192 --> 00:22:08,894 a conductor who serves as the manager of the train 469 00:22:09,028 --> 00:22:10,196 and its rolling stock. 470 00:22:11,230 --> 00:22:13,966 - BNSF 764040, O'Brien, over. 471 00:22:15,301 --> 00:22:17,269 - [Narrator] And the engineer or train driver. 472 00:22:18,537 --> 00:22:20,206 But for this grueling journey, 473 00:22:20,339 --> 00:22:23,642 a second engineer with two helper locomotives 474 00:22:23,776 --> 00:22:25,811 couples onto the rear of the train, 475 00:22:25,945 --> 00:22:28,013 to push it to the top of the hill. 476 00:22:31,417 --> 00:22:32,952 - Helpers are gonna contact me 477 00:22:33,085 --> 00:22:35,154 and let me know when he's getting a release 478 00:22:35,287 --> 00:22:38,190 on the rear end of the train and then we'll leave. 479 00:22:38,324 --> 00:22:41,160 - [Helper] 764040 released to come and get you. 480 00:22:41,293 --> 00:22:42,361 - Here we go. 481 00:22:43,495 --> 00:22:44,630 So now he just gave me the signal 482 00:22:44,763 --> 00:22:46,632 that the air brakes are releasing. 483 00:22:48,267 --> 00:22:50,669 We come right off of the brakes, 484 00:22:50,803 --> 00:22:52,705 give it some throttle and we take off. 485 00:22:55,541 --> 00:22:57,209 But as soon as we take this corner, 486 00:22:57,343 --> 00:22:59,478 you're gonna notice our speed dropping dramatically 487 00:22:59,612 --> 00:23:02,381 'cause the hill and it's all the way up the summit. 488 00:23:04,650 --> 00:23:05,851 - [Narrator] The engines must provide 489 00:23:05,985 --> 00:23:08,287 64,000 pounds of tractive effort 490 00:23:08,420 --> 00:23:09,822 to propel the train forward. 491 00:23:11,257 --> 00:23:15,394 - The more power we exert into the traction motor, 492 00:23:15,527 --> 00:23:19,798 the more likely that that wheel has the opportunity to spin. 493 00:23:19,932 --> 00:23:23,269 In order to keep it from spinning, we'll use sand 494 00:23:23,402 --> 00:23:28,507 and that will put a grit or sandpaper underneath the wheel 495 00:23:28,641 --> 00:23:31,877 so we don't have metal to metal and it'll keep it moving. 496 00:23:32,845 --> 00:23:34,213 - [Narrator] Today's locomotives 497 00:23:34,346 --> 00:23:37,483 are equipped with an electronic traction control system. 498 00:23:37,616 --> 00:23:39,184 The system uses compressed air 499 00:23:39,318 --> 00:23:42,121 to spray sand from a nozzle in front of each wheel. 500 00:23:43,155 --> 00:23:44,823 - If I spin my wheels, 501 00:23:44,957 --> 00:23:46,625 the computer will sense a wheel slip, 502 00:23:46,759 --> 00:23:49,094 you know like on a car, you feel it, 503 00:23:49,228 --> 00:23:51,063 and you'll also feel it in here, 504 00:23:51,196 --> 00:23:54,133 and I'll get a little signal in here, it'll say wheel slip. 505 00:23:55,401 --> 00:23:56,902 One of the helpers clear block- 506 00:23:57,036 --> 00:23:59,271 - [Narrator] Engineer Marquez is in constant communication 507 00:23:59,405 --> 00:24:01,340 with the helper locomotive engineer 508 00:24:01,473 --> 00:24:03,208 at the back of his train. 509 00:24:03,342 --> 00:24:04,710 - If we didn't pick up those helpers, 510 00:24:04,843 --> 00:24:06,845 we'd probably be getting a lot of wheel slip. 511 00:24:06,979 --> 00:24:08,948 The wheels would just be slipping 512 00:24:09,081 --> 00:24:09,948 'cause we wouldn't have enough power 513 00:24:10,082 --> 00:24:11,350 to pull this up the hill. 514 00:24:12,818 --> 00:24:13,919 - [Narrator] It takes a lot of effort 515 00:24:14,053 --> 00:24:15,554 to get more than 12 million pounds 516 00:24:15,688 --> 00:24:16,822 to the top of the hill. 517 00:24:17,690 --> 00:24:19,525 - Gravity's pulling it that way. 518 00:24:19,658 --> 00:24:22,661 I'm trying to pull it that way, right? (laughs) 519 00:24:22,795 --> 00:24:25,597 (rock music) 520 00:24:28,600 --> 00:24:30,469 If we stopped out here 521 00:24:30,602 --> 00:24:34,340 and if I release my brakes without giving it power, 522 00:24:34,473 --> 00:24:35,674 we'd start rolling back. 523 00:24:36,809 --> 00:24:37,910 - [Narrator] With all the tools on board 524 00:24:38,043 --> 00:24:39,511 to keep his train moving forward, 525 00:24:39,645 --> 00:24:42,881 Marquez can sit back and enjoy the ride to the top. 526 00:24:43,015 --> 00:24:44,216 Well, sort of. 527 00:24:45,651 --> 00:24:48,120 - That's an alerter, it's like a safety device. 528 00:24:48,253 --> 00:24:51,390 It's basically to keep me awake. (chuckles) 529 00:24:51,523 --> 00:24:55,160 If I'm capacitated somehow and the alerter times out, 530 00:24:55,294 --> 00:24:57,830 it'll apply the brakes at a service rate, 531 00:24:57,963 --> 00:24:59,898 just slow the train down gradually 532 00:25:00,032 --> 00:25:01,467 and just come to a stop. 533 00:25:01,600 --> 00:25:03,235 I just hit this button, the alerter resets 534 00:25:03,369 --> 00:25:04,503 and every time it pops up, 535 00:25:04,636 --> 00:25:08,140 if I do something with the throttle, brakes, 536 00:25:08,273 --> 00:25:09,975 something like that, it'll reset it too, 537 00:25:10,109 --> 00:25:11,643 because it's showing that I'm awake 538 00:25:11,777 --> 00:25:13,479 and I'm moving the controls. 539 00:25:15,681 --> 00:25:18,183 - [Narrator] Marquez has to stop his train at the summit 540 00:25:18,317 --> 00:25:19,952 to let off the helper engines. 541 00:25:20,886 --> 00:25:23,122 - All I gotta do is throttle down 542 00:25:23,255 --> 00:25:26,558 and the train will stall out, come to a stop. 543 00:25:30,129 --> 00:25:31,597 - [Narrator] This stop was planned, 544 00:25:31,730 --> 00:25:33,165 but not all of them can be. 545 00:25:35,834 --> 00:25:37,403 - If we're moving 20 mile an hour 546 00:25:37,536 --> 00:25:39,738 and we're coming down a mountain grade territory 547 00:25:39,872 --> 00:25:43,842 and this train weighs roughly 6,000 ton or more, 548 00:25:43,976 --> 00:25:46,011 it could possibly take us a quarter of a mile 549 00:25:46,145 --> 00:25:49,348 to stop the train in an emergency application. 550 00:25:51,250 --> 00:25:53,185 - [Narrator] And as every early railroader knew, 551 00:25:53,318 --> 00:25:56,722 being unable to stop a speeding train was, 552 00:25:56,855 --> 00:25:59,058 well, a train wreck. 553 00:25:59,191 --> 00:26:02,027 (metal crashing) 554 00:26:03,829 --> 00:26:07,666 - The earliest railroads used hand brakes of various types. 555 00:26:07,800 --> 00:26:11,236 Often this was as simple as a lever with a wooden block 556 00:26:11,370 --> 00:26:12,838 going against the wheel. 557 00:26:12,971 --> 00:26:14,339 As the cars got bigger, 558 00:26:14,473 --> 00:26:18,143 they would go to what we would call a stem winder 559 00:26:18,277 --> 00:26:19,378 that tightened a chain 560 00:26:19,511 --> 00:26:22,347 that pulled iron shoes against the wheels. 561 00:26:22,481 --> 00:26:25,117 But they all had to be done by hand. 562 00:26:26,518 --> 00:26:29,054 - [Narrator] Every five or six cars would have a brakeman 563 00:26:29,188 --> 00:26:31,323 who had to apply the brakes on each of his cars. 564 00:26:31,457 --> 00:26:32,825 - And the brakeman 565 00:26:32,958 --> 00:26:35,160 was probably one of the most dangerous jobs in railroading 566 00:26:35,294 --> 00:26:36,795 because there was this chance 567 00:26:36,929 --> 00:26:38,831 that you would be thrown off the car 568 00:26:38,964 --> 00:26:40,032 or lose your footing on that. 569 00:26:40,165 --> 00:26:42,401 But you had to walk from car to car 570 00:26:42,534 --> 00:26:44,970 on the roofs of the cars applying the hand brakes 571 00:26:45,104 --> 00:26:47,439 in order to stop the train. 572 00:26:47,573 --> 00:26:50,342 - But back then, the workers were considered expendable 573 00:26:50,476 --> 00:26:52,411 and that's what it took to stop trains. 574 00:26:54,012 --> 00:26:56,014 - [Narrator] In 1866, 575 00:26:56,148 --> 00:26:58,116 George Westinghouse took on the challenge 576 00:26:58,250 --> 00:27:00,953 of finding more effective way to stop a train. 577 00:27:01,086 --> 00:27:04,523 And by 1873, he developed what remains to this day 578 00:27:04,656 --> 00:27:08,727 one of the most significant safety inventions of all time, 579 00:27:08,861 --> 00:27:10,362 the automatic air brake. 580 00:27:11,530 --> 00:27:13,232 The air brakes on a freight train 581 00:27:13,365 --> 00:27:15,767 are supplied with compressed air from the locomotive. 582 00:27:15,901 --> 00:27:18,003 As the air reservoir in each car fills, 583 00:27:18,136 --> 00:27:21,340 it trips a valve to release the brakes on that car. 584 00:27:23,775 --> 00:27:26,378 Only when the last car disengages its brakes 585 00:27:26,512 --> 00:27:27,579 can the train move. 586 00:27:28,947 --> 00:27:30,782 The system is fail safe, 587 00:27:30,916 --> 00:27:32,885 as any reduction of its air pressure, 588 00:27:33,018 --> 00:27:35,254 such as a rupture in the air supply hose, 589 00:27:35,387 --> 00:27:37,556 causes the brakes to be applied. 590 00:27:38,991 --> 00:27:42,160 When diesel electric replaced the steam locomotive, 591 00:27:42,294 --> 00:27:45,097 it brought with it another revolutionary technology, 592 00:27:45,230 --> 00:27:47,766 dynamic braking to supplement air brakes. 593 00:27:49,768 --> 00:27:51,303 Back at the Cajon Pass, 594 00:27:51,436 --> 00:27:54,806 engineer Marquez relies upon dynamic braking 595 00:27:54,940 --> 00:27:56,608 to start his downhill descent. 596 00:27:56,742 --> 00:27:58,310 - I'm in dynamic braking now 597 00:27:58,443 --> 00:28:01,647 and it just turns the traction motors into big resistors. 598 00:28:04,416 --> 00:28:06,552 - [Narrator] Instead of feeding power to the wheels, 599 00:28:06,685 --> 00:28:09,755 the traction motors now take power from the wheels. 600 00:28:10,856 --> 00:28:13,559 The energy is dissipated as heat. 601 00:28:13,692 --> 00:28:16,595 The underpowered traction motors have become hard to turn 602 00:28:17,930 --> 00:28:20,465 thereby providing resistance to the wheels, 603 00:28:20,599 --> 00:28:22,367 slowing the train. 604 00:28:25,204 --> 00:28:26,905 - [Marquez] The more I move this lever forward, 605 00:28:27,039 --> 00:28:28,073 it demands more amps, 606 00:28:28,206 --> 00:28:31,109 which basically slows the motors down, 607 00:28:31,243 --> 00:28:32,377 adds resistance to 'em. 608 00:28:32,511 --> 00:28:34,446 So they're the ones slowing us down now, 609 00:28:34,580 --> 00:28:36,848 which means I gotta be prepared to add more amps 610 00:28:36,982 --> 00:28:38,584 to keep my train under control. 611 00:28:41,353 --> 00:28:43,522 - [Narrator] Dynamic brakes are very useful on downgrades 612 00:28:43,655 --> 00:28:47,292 and save a considerable amount of wear on air brake shoes, 613 00:28:47,426 --> 00:28:49,561 thus lowering maintenance costs. 614 00:28:50,696 --> 00:28:52,898 - Gravity's just pulling us downhill. 615 00:28:53,031 --> 00:28:55,968 Like I said, I have resistance on my head end 616 00:28:56,101 --> 00:29:00,205 'cause I turn these traction motors into to resistors. 617 00:29:00,339 --> 00:29:02,507 So the wheels are turning and I'm trying to slow us down, 618 00:29:02,641 --> 00:29:04,409 the engines are trying to slow us down. 619 00:29:04,543 --> 00:29:06,712 And the train's just pushing against our engine 620 00:29:06,845 --> 00:29:09,815 and I can try and control my speed with the dynamic brakes. 621 00:29:09,948 --> 00:29:12,150 As we get faster, if I don't want to go too fast, 622 00:29:12,284 --> 00:29:14,052 I'll add more dynamic brakes, 623 00:29:14,186 --> 00:29:17,155 trying to slow down or keep our speed constant. 624 00:29:18,390 --> 00:29:19,791 If I want to gain some speed, 625 00:29:19,925 --> 00:29:21,693 I can reduce my dynamic braking, 626 00:29:23,128 --> 00:29:25,264 which means the wheels will turn easier on the engines 627 00:29:25,397 --> 00:29:27,232 and it means gravity will shove more. 628 00:29:28,967 --> 00:29:31,003 - [Narrator] But the dynamic brakes may not be enough 629 00:29:31,136 --> 00:29:32,204 to keep this freight train 630 00:29:32,337 --> 00:29:34,172 from becoming a roller coaster ride. 631 00:29:35,340 --> 00:29:37,276 - [Marquez] I'm in full dynamic brakes. 632 00:29:37,409 --> 00:29:40,178 I'm demanding 35 kilo pounds from my motors 633 00:29:40,312 --> 00:29:41,613 and all that resistance 634 00:29:41,747 --> 00:29:43,815 and the trains just going too fast. 635 00:29:43,949 --> 00:29:47,219 I'm just gonna keep picking up speed unless I do something. 636 00:29:47,352 --> 00:29:49,955 So now I'll slow my train down with some air brakes. 637 00:29:52,024 --> 00:29:53,925 - [Narrator] Essentially, he's riding the brakes 638 00:29:54,059 --> 00:29:55,527 the rest of the journey down. 639 00:29:59,064 --> 00:30:02,834 When Marquez's 6,000 ton train reaches the bottom, 640 00:30:02,968 --> 00:30:04,870 it becomes yet another train 641 00:30:05,003 --> 00:30:07,806 that has successfully negotiated the Cajon Pass 642 00:30:09,541 --> 00:30:12,010 and transported hundreds of freight containers 643 00:30:12,144 --> 00:30:13,078 over the mountains. 644 00:30:14,413 --> 00:30:15,747 And the containers it carries 645 00:30:15,881 --> 00:30:18,383 are significant beyond the goods they hold. 646 00:30:19,484 --> 00:30:21,920 With the increase in imports coming from Asia, 647 00:30:22,054 --> 00:30:23,188 these freight containers 648 00:30:23,322 --> 00:30:25,490 have come to rejuvenate the railroad industry. 649 00:30:30,662 --> 00:30:32,064 Over seven million containers 650 00:30:32,197 --> 00:30:34,633 enter the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach every year, 651 00:30:37,302 --> 00:30:40,172 more than anywhere else in the United States. 652 00:30:40,305 --> 00:30:41,740 They are intermodal loads, 653 00:30:41,873 --> 00:30:43,642 containers designed to flow easily 654 00:30:43,775 --> 00:30:46,211 from one mode of transport to another, 655 00:30:46,344 --> 00:30:47,612 and they have revolutionized 656 00:30:47,746 --> 00:30:49,981 and revitalized the rail industry. 657 00:30:50,115 --> 00:30:51,483 - Intermodal containers 658 00:30:51,616 --> 00:30:53,385 are an extension of the container ship operations 659 00:30:53,518 --> 00:30:55,587 that are here at the Port of Los Angeles. 660 00:30:55,721 --> 00:30:56,988 Containers come off the ship, 661 00:30:57,122 --> 00:30:58,156 they move onto the dock 662 00:30:58,290 --> 00:31:00,025 and then they're either moved out by truck 663 00:31:00,158 --> 00:31:01,360 or moved out by rail. 664 00:31:02,961 --> 00:31:04,896 - [Narrator] Over 50 trains leave the twin ports 665 00:31:05,030 --> 00:31:08,033 of Los Angeles and Long Beach on a daily basis, 666 00:31:08,166 --> 00:31:11,436 each carrying approximately 220 containers. 667 00:31:13,238 --> 00:31:15,107 That keeps about 11,000 trucks 668 00:31:15,240 --> 00:31:18,143 off congested Los Angeles freeways every day. 669 00:31:20,412 --> 00:31:22,013 - The advent of trade with Asia, 670 00:31:22,147 --> 00:31:23,915 especially in the last 20 years, 671 00:31:24,049 --> 00:31:25,584 and specifically China in the last 10, 672 00:31:25,717 --> 00:31:27,386 has a doubled the amount of volume 673 00:31:27,519 --> 00:31:29,354 that is coming into the west coast ports 674 00:31:29,488 --> 00:31:30,889 over that period of time. 675 00:31:31,022 --> 00:31:33,191 And the container trains have really been a way 676 00:31:33,325 --> 00:31:35,794 to be an outlet for large volumes. 677 00:31:37,596 --> 00:31:38,930 - [Narrator] And intermodal train traffic 678 00:31:39,064 --> 00:31:41,400 coming out of the ports is expected to double 679 00:31:41,533 --> 00:31:45,070 to 100 trains daily in the next two decades. 680 00:31:45,203 --> 00:31:48,273 - Over 60% of the cargo that comes through these ports, 681 00:31:48,406 --> 00:31:51,276 containerized cargo, in the form of imports, 682 00:31:51,410 --> 00:31:53,211 is destined for the rest of the nation. 683 00:31:53,345 --> 00:31:55,680 And the first stop or the first passage if you will, 684 00:31:55,814 --> 00:31:57,682 for that traffic is on the Alameda Corridor 685 00:31:57,816 --> 00:32:00,418 as it heads east to service the rest of the nation. 686 00:32:01,686 --> 00:32:03,021 - [Narrator] The 20 mile long corridor 687 00:32:03,155 --> 00:32:05,290 is essentially an expressway for trains, 688 00:32:05,424 --> 00:32:07,559 (train whirring past) 689 00:32:07,692 --> 00:32:11,430 connecting the ports to rail yards east of the city. 690 00:32:11,563 --> 00:32:15,367 - This 10 mile section that we fondly refer to as the trench 691 00:32:15,500 --> 00:32:17,769 was kind of the crown jewel of the program. 692 00:32:17,903 --> 00:32:19,004 It's 10 miles long, 693 00:32:19,137 --> 00:32:20,939 represents about one half the length 694 00:32:21,072 --> 00:32:22,174 of the overall corridor. 695 00:32:23,208 --> 00:32:24,309 - [Narrator] In the trench, 696 00:32:24,442 --> 00:32:26,978 train travels unimpeded beneath city traffic. 697 00:32:28,146 --> 00:32:30,182 A journey that once took almost two hours 698 00:32:30,315 --> 00:32:32,984 has been cut to only 45 minutes. 699 00:32:33,118 --> 00:32:35,287 - It's really a national asset. 700 00:32:35,420 --> 00:32:37,589 What the Alameda Corridor represents 701 00:32:37,722 --> 00:32:39,658 is probably one of the strongest lengths 702 00:32:39,791 --> 00:32:42,727 in the Transcontinental Rail Network at this point in time. 703 00:32:45,263 --> 00:32:47,599 - [Narrator] Intermodal freight has surpassed coal 704 00:32:47,732 --> 00:32:50,602 as the number one revenue generator for the rail industry. 705 00:32:52,070 --> 00:32:53,538 And the articulated well car, 706 00:32:53,672 --> 00:32:56,074 designed to carry intermodal containers, 707 00:32:56,208 --> 00:32:58,176 helped railroads remain relevant 708 00:32:58,310 --> 00:33:01,346 in the competitive world of freight transportation. 709 00:33:01,480 --> 00:33:04,149 Each car is able to fit one container 710 00:33:04,282 --> 00:33:06,017 in a depressed well area. 711 00:33:06,151 --> 00:33:08,486 With another resting on top, 712 00:33:08,620 --> 00:33:10,922 the well area lowers the height of the load, 713 00:33:11,056 --> 00:33:13,225 allowing it to make bridge and tunnel clearances 714 00:33:13,358 --> 00:33:15,760 as well as lowering its center of gravity. 715 00:33:16,661 --> 00:33:18,063 - The double stack opportunity 716 00:33:18,196 --> 00:33:21,166 provides two for the price of one in a given car space. 717 00:33:21,299 --> 00:33:22,701 So the loading volumes can increase, 718 00:33:22,834 --> 00:33:25,170 the cost per unit drops, and makes the rail 719 00:33:25,303 --> 00:33:29,207 a very, very efficient and cost effective way to move cargo. 720 00:33:29,341 --> 00:33:30,675 - [Narrator] Of course, the well car 721 00:33:30,809 --> 00:33:32,978 isn't the first freight car to fill a special need. 722 00:33:35,046 --> 00:33:37,148 The earliest freight cars were simple platforms 723 00:33:37,282 --> 00:33:38,416 with wheels attached, 724 00:33:38,550 --> 00:33:41,553 but soon enough, sides were added. 725 00:33:41,686 --> 00:33:44,623 - This particular type of car here is a gondola. 726 00:33:44,756 --> 00:33:48,593 Now it's gondola, not gondola, all those are in Venice. 727 00:33:48,727 --> 00:33:50,695 There are none on America's railroads. 728 00:33:50,829 --> 00:33:52,564 This particular type of car 729 00:33:52,697 --> 00:33:54,833 was one of the earlier types of cars. 730 00:33:56,234 --> 00:33:58,803 - [Narrator] But gondolas were no match for harsh winters, 731 00:33:58,937 --> 00:34:01,373 extremely hot summers, and long treks 732 00:34:01,506 --> 00:34:04,075 between settled areas of the US. 733 00:34:04,209 --> 00:34:08,914 This called for an enclosed car, thus the box car, 734 00:34:09,047 --> 00:34:11,750 an icon of American freight railroading was born. 735 00:34:12,751 --> 00:34:14,152 Box cars often functioned 736 00:34:14,286 --> 00:34:16,988 as rolling billboards for the railroads they served. 737 00:34:17,122 --> 00:34:19,824 - Box cars were modified into several other car types 738 00:34:19,958 --> 00:34:21,927 with open slats on the side. 739 00:34:22,060 --> 00:34:24,763 It was modified into a cattle car to carry cattle, 740 00:34:24,896 --> 00:34:28,300 with heavy insulation and ice bunkers in either end, 741 00:34:28,433 --> 00:34:30,201 it could be used as a refrigerator car 742 00:34:30,335 --> 00:34:31,736 to haul perishable items. 743 00:34:32,938 --> 00:34:35,240 - [Narrator] "Reefers", or refrigerator cars 744 00:34:35,373 --> 00:34:37,442 changed the way America ate. 745 00:34:37,576 --> 00:34:39,177 - The refrigerator car was essentially 746 00:34:39,311 --> 00:34:40,645 an ice box on wheels. 747 00:34:40,779 --> 00:34:41,780 And this worked well 748 00:34:41,913 --> 00:34:44,849 until the advent of the frozen food industry. 749 00:34:46,051 --> 00:34:47,619 Enter the mechanical refrigerator car. 750 00:34:47,752 --> 00:34:50,956 In the early 1950s, a small diesel engine 751 00:34:51,089 --> 00:34:54,192 was used to power a refrigeration device. 752 00:34:54,326 --> 00:34:56,995 The cars then became a set of ice boxes on wheels, 753 00:34:57,128 --> 00:34:59,264 actual refrigerators on wheels. 754 00:34:59,397 --> 00:35:02,100 This spelled the doom of the ice reefer. 755 00:35:03,435 --> 00:35:05,604 - [Narrator] The rail industry was able to accommodate 756 00:35:05,737 --> 00:35:08,740 just about every market in the United States. 757 00:35:08,873 --> 00:35:12,877 The petroleum age led to the introduction of the tank car. 758 00:35:13,011 --> 00:35:14,379 The automobile revolution 759 00:35:14,512 --> 00:35:17,515 led to the emergence of the auto rack. 760 00:35:17,649 --> 00:35:21,319 And the piggy back, or TOFC trailer on flat car 761 00:35:21,453 --> 00:35:22,887 was developed in response 762 00:35:23,021 --> 00:35:25,290 to trucking competition in the 1950s. 763 00:35:26,491 --> 00:35:28,860 But with a proliferation of freight car designs, 764 00:35:28,994 --> 00:35:33,331 came the demise of another railroad car, the caboose. 765 00:35:33,465 --> 00:35:37,369 - Radios made possible to work with fewer people. 766 00:35:37,502 --> 00:35:40,805 So you didn't need four or five people to run a train, 767 00:35:40,939 --> 00:35:43,108 you could run a train pretty effectively 768 00:35:43,241 --> 00:35:44,376 with two or three people. 769 00:35:44,509 --> 00:35:47,812 The caboose became an unnecessary appendage 770 00:35:47,946 --> 00:35:49,447 on the rear of the train. 771 00:35:49,581 --> 00:35:51,316 - [Narrator] Technology caught up with the caboose 772 00:35:51,449 --> 00:35:52,851 in the form of FRED. 773 00:35:53,985 --> 00:35:55,954 - FRED means flashing rear end device. 774 00:35:56,087 --> 00:35:59,424 For the men who lost their jobs as a result of this, 775 00:35:59,557 --> 00:36:01,593 the F had a different connotation. 776 00:36:04,629 --> 00:36:06,131 - [Narrator] The dumb FRED can be anything 777 00:36:06,264 --> 00:36:08,466 from a blinking light to a simple red flag 778 00:36:08,600 --> 00:36:10,201 stuck on the end of the last car. 779 00:36:11,636 --> 00:36:14,039 Smart FRED, or the end of train device 780 00:36:14,172 --> 00:36:15,507 as it came to be called, 781 00:36:15,640 --> 00:36:18,777 can radio information about the airline pressure 782 00:36:18,910 --> 00:36:20,979 as well as let the engineer know 783 00:36:21,112 --> 00:36:24,115 what the cars at the end of the train are doing. 784 00:36:24,249 --> 00:36:25,950 But it's not just the end of the train 785 00:36:26,084 --> 00:36:27,185 that's gotten smarter. 786 00:36:28,686 --> 00:36:31,623 Railroad operations are moving full throttle 787 00:36:31,756 --> 00:36:35,527 to the very cutting edge of the information age. 788 00:36:40,932 --> 00:36:43,334 - [Narrator] At any given time, there are thousands of trains 789 00:36:43,468 --> 00:36:46,171 snaking their way across the North American continent. 790 00:36:47,605 --> 00:36:48,940 Their paths intersect, 791 00:36:49,074 --> 00:36:50,942 they share some of the same rail, 792 00:36:51,076 --> 00:36:55,146 and may even use the same line in opposing directions. 793 00:36:55,280 --> 00:36:58,016 It may sound like a train wreck just waiting to happen. 794 00:37:01,619 --> 00:37:02,821 (intense music) 795 00:37:02,954 --> 00:37:04,355 But every move of every train 796 00:37:04,489 --> 00:37:06,558 is closely monitored and calculated 797 00:37:06,691 --> 00:37:09,694 by dispatchers located at operation centers 798 00:37:09,828 --> 00:37:12,030 throughout the United States. 799 00:37:12,163 --> 00:37:13,665 - The train crew has a responsibility 800 00:37:13,798 --> 00:37:14,866 to operate the train, 801 00:37:16,034 --> 00:37:18,736 but the train dispatcher gives them the route to run on. 802 00:37:18,870 --> 00:37:21,339 - [Narrator] Train dispatchers are the rulers of the rails 803 00:37:22,740 --> 00:37:25,343 and no move can be made without their authorization. 804 00:37:27,846 --> 00:37:30,548 BNSF Railways Network Operation Center 805 00:37:30,682 --> 00:37:32,817 is command central for the dispatchers 806 00:37:32,951 --> 00:37:35,620 of one of the largest railroads in North America. 807 00:37:36,788 --> 00:37:39,057 - The facility is 45,000 square feet, 808 00:37:39,190 --> 00:37:40,825 about the size of a football field. 809 00:37:40,959 --> 00:37:44,496 We house at any given time about 225 employees. 810 00:37:44,629 --> 00:37:48,333 There's 94 different dispatching work stations. 811 00:37:50,135 --> 00:37:54,205 - [Narrator] Each dispatcher's territory is 200 to 500 miles 812 00:37:54,339 --> 00:37:57,208 and their planning horizon is two to three hours ahead. 813 00:37:58,610 --> 00:38:00,044 - He or she has a screen 814 00:38:00,178 --> 00:38:02,413 with a track layout on the computer screen 815 00:38:02,547 --> 00:38:03,648 and it's all point and click. 816 00:38:03,782 --> 00:38:07,685 The dispatcher can point to a switch or a route 817 00:38:07,819 --> 00:38:10,288 and direct that train's movement over that 818 00:38:10,421 --> 00:38:12,323 with just a point and click operation. 819 00:38:13,491 --> 00:38:15,193 - [Narrator] This way, it's the dispatcher 820 00:38:15,326 --> 00:38:18,296 that selects the path of the train, not the engineer. 821 00:38:19,731 --> 00:38:22,500 So it's imperative that the dispatchers know exactly 822 00:38:22,634 --> 00:38:24,936 where their trains are at all times. 823 00:38:25,069 --> 00:38:26,738 - We've got two different tracking mechanisms. 824 00:38:26,871 --> 00:38:29,607 One's through the signal system that actually tracks trains 825 00:38:29,741 --> 00:38:31,075 through electric current in the rail 826 00:38:31,209 --> 00:38:32,610 that brings the information 827 00:38:32,744 --> 00:38:34,879 into the train dispatchers dispatching system. 828 00:38:35,013 --> 00:38:37,582 And then secondly, we've got a wireless AEI, 829 00:38:37,715 --> 00:38:39,617 automatic equipment identification, 830 00:38:39,751 --> 00:38:42,453 that wirelessly transmits information 831 00:38:42,587 --> 00:38:43,688 into the train dispatcher 832 00:38:43,822 --> 00:38:46,858 and gives him or her a location and route. 833 00:38:46,991 --> 00:38:49,093 - And this is basically an RFID 834 00:38:49,227 --> 00:38:52,830 that we place on all the rail cars, all the locomotives, 835 00:38:52,964 --> 00:38:56,467 on every rail car in North America. 836 00:38:56,601 --> 00:39:00,104 BNSF has around 500 AEI readers 837 00:39:00,238 --> 00:39:02,207 and as the trains go by these readers, 838 00:39:02,340 --> 00:39:06,711 it energizes the tag and captures what car that is 839 00:39:06,844 --> 00:39:08,379 or what locomotive that is. 840 00:39:08,513 --> 00:39:11,583 And then we use that information to update our mainframe 841 00:39:11,716 --> 00:39:13,718 and identify exactly what's on the train 842 00:39:13,852 --> 00:39:15,520 at that point in time. 843 00:39:16,955 --> 00:39:17,989 - [Narrator] Within a few seconds 844 00:39:18,122 --> 00:39:19,724 of a train going by a reader, 845 00:39:19,858 --> 00:39:21,526 the information is available 846 00:39:21,659 --> 00:39:24,229 to the dispatchers at the Network Operation Center, 847 00:39:24,362 --> 00:39:27,799 as well as to customers online. 848 00:39:27,932 --> 00:39:30,735 But since readers may be up to 100 miles apart 849 00:39:30,868 --> 00:39:32,237 and conductors set out cars 850 00:39:32,370 --> 00:39:34,138 at various points along the route, 851 00:39:34,272 --> 00:39:37,675 dispatchers need even more accurate reporting. 852 00:39:37,809 --> 00:39:42,814 BNSF on a daily basis has around 1,400 trains in operation. 853 00:39:44,349 --> 00:39:46,050 The trains go through a reader, 854 00:39:46,184 --> 00:39:48,052 reporting critical information 855 00:39:48,186 --> 00:39:51,122 through the voice train reporting application. 856 00:39:51,256 --> 00:39:52,523 The application automatically 857 00:39:52,657 --> 00:39:56,327 converts verbal information into computer data. 858 00:39:56,461 --> 00:39:58,529 - So they basically just use the radio that they have, 859 00:39:58,663 --> 00:39:59,664 they tell us what they did. 860 00:39:59,797 --> 00:40:01,866 Within nine seconds, 861 00:40:02,000 --> 00:40:04,302 that information's updated in our mainframe. 862 00:40:04,435 --> 00:40:06,671 - [Narrator] This information can be anything 863 00:40:06,804 --> 00:40:08,873 from picking up cars to leaving cars out 864 00:40:09,007 --> 00:40:11,576 at various sidetracks and yards along the route. 865 00:40:13,177 --> 00:40:16,814 Handheld computers are also used to report car movement. 866 00:40:17,982 --> 00:40:20,652 - This will be very similar to what UPS does 867 00:40:20,785 --> 00:40:23,421 in that that's how they keep track of their packages. 868 00:40:23,554 --> 00:40:25,490 This is how we keep track of our rail cars. 869 00:40:25,623 --> 00:40:29,260 And if you consider a rail car is just a lot bigger package, 870 00:40:29,394 --> 00:40:32,397 this is basically where we track 871 00:40:32,530 --> 00:40:34,832 where we left the car, when we left it there 872 00:40:34,966 --> 00:40:37,936 and it's how we identify to the conductor 873 00:40:38,069 --> 00:40:40,471 you need to go pick up that package. 874 00:40:40,605 --> 00:40:42,774 - [Narrator] Railroads are now exploring innovative ways 875 00:40:42,907 --> 00:40:45,977 to utilize Wi-Fi and GPS technologies 876 00:40:46,110 --> 00:40:48,012 to increase rail safety. 877 00:40:48,146 --> 00:40:49,914 - An example of a safety initiative 878 00:40:50,048 --> 00:40:53,618 is electronic train management system, or ETMS as we call it. 879 00:40:57,255 --> 00:40:59,757 (train engine humming) 880 00:41:02,694 --> 00:41:04,729 The locomotive on board system 881 00:41:04,862 --> 00:41:08,266 would have the authority that's granted to the train, 882 00:41:08,399 --> 00:41:10,702 the speed, the distance that they have 883 00:41:10,835 --> 00:41:13,338 to travel with the authority that's been issued. 884 00:41:13,471 --> 00:41:14,439 - [Narrator] The system automatically 885 00:41:14,572 --> 00:41:16,140 takes control of the train 886 00:41:16,274 --> 00:41:17,942 if the engineer exceeds the authority 887 00:41:18,076 --> 00:41:19,811 given to him by the dispatcher, 888 00:41:19,944 --> 00:41:21,746 fails to acknowledge his signal, 889 00:41:21,879 --> 00:41:25,249 or even if he's about to take a curve too quickly. 890 00:41:26,451 --> 00:41:28,386 The system constantly monitors information 891 00:41:28,519 --> 00:41:30,288 about the path ahead of the train 892 00:41:30,421 --> 00:41:33,324 and determines what actions are required from the engineer. 893 00:41:33,458 --> 00:41:34,892 It gives a warning to the engineer 894 00:41:35,026 --> 00:41:36,928 if he's not taking the appropriate action 895 00:41:37,061 --> 00:41:39,364 to stop or slow down the train. 896 00:41:39,497 --> 00:41:42,600 - If they violate that or don't react 897 00:41:42,734 --> 00:41:43,668 to stop the train 898 00:41:43,801 --> 00:41:45,002 before they get to the end of their authority, 899 00:41:45,136 --> 00:41:46,604 it'll automatically stop the train. 900 00:41:48,306 --> 00:41:51,242 - [Narrator] Once implemented, ETMS will allow railroads 901 00:41:51,376 --> 00:41:53,611 to run trains more safely and efficiently. 902 00:41:54,979 --> 00:41:58,916 So, as we move forward faster the than ever before, 903 00:41:59,050 --> 00:42:02,053 we can be sure that the rail industry will continue 904 00:42:02,186 --> 00:42:05,656 to be the best and most cost effective way to move freight.