The Golden Spike: A Successful Field Trial
On July 1, 1862, the Pacific Railway Act of 1862 was signed into law by President Lincoln. This act provided government support for the construction of the First Transcontinental Railroad. The task of completing the railroad was granted to an existing California railroad and a new railroad chartered soon after the act. The two companies began laying track from opposite ends of the country, meeting in Promontory Summit, Utah, on May 10, 1869. On that day, officials drove the “Golden Spike” uniting the eastward and westward lines of the First Transcontinental Railroad.
While much of that original rail has been replaced, railroads still play an integral role in our lives today. Every day, trains transport goods across the country and ferry passengers to their destinations. Railroad companies take great care to ensure the safety of the service they provide. One such company sought Reality Mobile’s help in that area.
In November 2008, I had the opportunity to travel to the headquarters of a Fortune 200 transportation company. They had agreed to conduct a 6 month field trial to assess how RealityVision might be able to assist them with derailments, accidents and other pressing operational requirements.
Not much has changed since the inception of the First Transcontinental Railroad. Trains still travel through remote areas and sparsely populated locales. This has the potential to make information sharing and incident response a challenge. Our pilot customer was interested in using RealityVision to bridge that gap. The best way for them to determine if our software was a good fit, was to have a formal trial. I was there to train those working in the company’s Hazardous Materials Management group. Training was very informative for me as well as the participants. I was able to learn a great deal about the railroad industry and its needs during my time on-site.
After talking to our pilot customer, I discovered that RealityVision would be able to help to them in many ways. Imagine, a responder arriving at a train derailment or hazardous materials incident. With just a push of a button, he transmits live video of the incident along with GPS coordinates of his location to the Management Console. He doesn’t have to call and describe the incident or his location; he can just focus on the situation at hand. The Console Operator can see exactly what is occurring and doesn’t have to rely on a description from the responder. The Console Operator can then send a message to nearby field personnel deploying them to the scene. The responding personnel know what to expect, because the Management Console has pushed the on-site responder’s video to them.
Could RealityVision be the “Golden Spike” that helps railroads bridge the communications gap between field personnel and Operations Centers? After a successful field trial, our pilot customer is buying the RealityVision system. Stay tuned for a separate announcement on that.