The Dispatch June 2022

TrackMaster Is One Cool Tool There’s a group of Watco team members, skilled in information technology, who are behind the proprietary software applications created for Watco team members and customers. Whether it’s Roam, CrewConnect, Dock, or others, these applications save time, money, and headaches. In this and future issues of The Dispatch, we’ll look at a few key apps and those who help design, implement, and maintain them. This time, it’s TrackMaster.

Isn’t the right tool just the best?

Like the all-in-one gizmo that cuts open and slices an avocado, and removes the seed if you like.

Or a cordless drill. (A cordless anything, really.)

One cool tool at Watco is TrackMaster, a software app that maintenance of way (MOW) inspectors use to check Watco-operated track and switches, and log any issues.

Watco’s U.S. railroads must meet or exceed the standards established by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). Inspectors carry iPads and log their name, location information like the subdivision and milepost, whether they’re on foot or using a hi-rail vehicle, and other details. If they find an issue, they can record it by checking a box in a drop-down menu of exceptions. TrackMaster contains nearly 300 FRA exception codes for logging issues with track condition, alignment, and more. As a Canadian property, the Agawa Canyon Railroad has its own drop-down list of exceptions in TrackMaster, required by Transport Canada. TrackMaster keeps track of it all.

Until a few months ago, an older and less-efficient version of TrackMaster had been in place since 2006.

“Before,” said Josh Williams, roadmaster at the Alabama Southern Railroad (ABS), “it was doing a paper log in the field or they had a notepad — something they could write on. At the end of the day, they’d have to go through the track management system, locate defect codes, and enter those. It was probably a 30-minute process.”

Williams and others at the ABS helped pilot the new TrackMaster app last fall. “Now, since we have the iPads, there’s no paper,” Williams said. “They’re entering their reports as they’re performed. All they have to do when they get to the office is hit ‘print.’ So the convenience aspect is well beyond what we had been experiencing.”

With TrackMaster, inspectors make entries in real time. They can search for key words like “tie” or “gauge” to narrow down the list of codes. Or they can type in a familiar code series number like “121” for rail joints or “133” for switches to help narrow down the selections. “You can go with a code or a keyword,” said Jason Jewell, an inspector at the ABS. “You’re a lot less likely to miss anything. It’s faster, it’s simpler, it’s easy.”

“Our goal in building this system was to make it more accurate and mobile,” said Bekah Garner, who helped implement TrackMaster. “The roadmaster doesn’t have to review every inspection now to see if there’s a paperwork problem.”

6 The Dispatch | June 2022