North American railroad signaling
However, North American practice diverged from that of the United Kingdom due to different operating conditions and economic factors between the two regions.
In Canada, the Canadian Rail Operating Rules (CROR) are approved by the Minister of Transport under the authority of the Railway Safety Act.
Each railway company or transit authority in Canada issues its own CROR rulebook with special instructions peculiar to each individual property.
Employees who perform their jobs in an unsafe manner usually violate operating and safety rules.
[1][2] By the 1850s, railroad operating rules, often printed as pamphlets or on the back of a time card, had evolved to near universal application.
On April 14, 1887 representatives of 48 railroads voted for the adoption of what is now known as the Standard Code of Operating Rules (SCOR), published by the AAR.
Thus, all railroad rule books in North America today have as their foundation the SCOR in both development and application.
Although used as a reference book, the SCOR was primarily a matrix document, from which the industry could establish standard text and a common numbering system.
Conrail, Amtrak, and several commuter and short line railroads in the northeastern United States use the NORAC rulebook.
A few railroads, including CSX, Norfolk Southern, Illinois Central, Metro North and Florida East Coast, have adopted their own rulebooks.
Research indicates unsafe work behavior can be influenced by any number of factors, including temperature, workload, time of day, and specific job tasks to name a few.
To give a little flexibility, the timetable gave trains a broad swath of time to allow for some delay.
Nonetheless, this system permitted operation on a vast scale, with no requirements for any kind of communication that travelled faster than a train.
In North American railway traffic control, a Form 19 or 31 train order would modify their schedule.
An "R" (red) order told the station operator to display a red (stop) signal, and dealt with meets, waits and other important traffic control issues, it was necessary for the crews to stop because they often had to sign for them, indicating that they had read and understood the situation.
Orders were flagged at train stations by telegraph operators who signaled using a fixed "order board", which usually consisted of a single semaphore blade mounted over the operator's position in the station.
On CN's Deux-Montagnes commuter line, this system lasted on part of the route until the total replacement of signaling and catenary in 1995.
The only railroads currently still using authentic train order operations is the South Shore line in Indiana and the LIRR in New York.
Most railroads west of the Mississippi River, as well as the U.S. operations of the Canadian Pacific Railway, use the GCOR.
Some large U.S. railroads, including CSX, Norfolk Southern, and the U.S. portion of the Canadian National do not subscribe to either NORAC or CROR and still use their own rule books.
The NORAC rule book illustrates all signal aspects and indications which may appear on track operated by member railroads.
However, GCOR does not illustrate signal aspects and indications because of the lack of uniformity between the participating railroads.
This practice is necessary due to the lack of uniformity in aspects between the multitude of railroads participating in GCOR, which includes a number of large systems created through merger.
[8] This manual block system is still on use on the Long Island Rail Road, which had been a subsidiary of the PRR.
A further enhancement designed to work in both signaled and dark territory is Positive Train Control (PTC).
[1] For years, the FRA has been recommending the standardization of operating rules and practices for cost-effectiveness in both safety and efficiency.
In 1992, the American Association of Railroad Superintendents (AARS) convened a special committee, which suggested to its board of directors, executive council, and membership that “the AARS sponsor a full conference on the standardization of railroad operating rules, practices, and procedures, and that this conference be conducted on the highest level possible, with the full and complete endorsement and involvement of chief operating officers.”[15] A standard set of operating rules, it was argued, would minimize the confusion that exists when employees operate over joint lines and are governed by two rule books instead of one.
Therefore, the question that must be asked is whether or not guidelines are needed for the development, writing, testing, application, and representation of operating rules.
