How to talk to dispatch

[SpeedyRetreat]

Just out of curiosity, is there any polish train enthusiasts that can give a proper rundown of how trains talk to dispatch? I think most of us are just freeballing it out here and it would be cool to know actual procedures or how its done normally? Like do the trains announce their arrival?

[weezzah]

Found a couple of threads on the PL side

Communication between the train and the dispatcher:

[EN] Basic guide of DUTY TRAFFIC and communication / radiocommunication duty - driver:

Edited February 2, 2023 by weezzah

[Arpadiam]

In english would be apriciated too

[weezzah]

If you have a browser that supports it: Right-click and select Translate to English in the context menu, but I do agree with you, and the creator of the thread 🙂

Derailing from the topic, I do recommend checking out the pdf in the first link. It's in polish, of course, but it does have a lot of information for drivers. Much of it is way out of scope for SimRail use, but still, interesting to get insights straight from the source. The pdf has selectable text so I've used Google to translate and read it to me too.

[Crunchie]

With respect to TT19 Floyd and their great work I have attempted to translate their Basic Guide into a straight word for word English. I have given translations of the function keys of the radio to match the illustration they made which I hope are correct (having no knowledge of the Polish language myself).

Polish Dispatch Communications SimRail 2.docx

[MasterFranky]

On 2/10/2023 at 5:56 AM, Crunchie said:

With respect to TT19 Floyd and their great work I have attempted to translate their Basic Guide into a straight word for word English. I have given translations of the function keys of the radio to match the illustration they made which I hope are correct (having no knowledge of the Polish language myself).

Polish Dispatch Communications SimRail 2.docx 138.71 kB · 29 downloads

Was a fun read lol but yes its always zawiercie that takes over the radio yammering giving life stories to every train not realizing they are in range of other stations that might want to speak to drivers. People need to be quick clear to the point as far as i'm concerned. When i run a station i only really use the radio to alert a driver of an extended hold due to traffic or something abnormal, not just general basic operations where anyone can just say "watch the proceed signal."

[jayzhead]

Right now there seems to be no unified set of guidelines for communications in the English server. Some dispatchers like to talk with every train that passes and some never talk to anyone and just set the signals. Sometimes it is a bit confusing trying to decide what to communicate as a driver, because the attitudes of different controllers are so varied. I suppose over time a more unified approach will emerge as people gain experience. I've recently had one controller get annoyed with me for reporting that I have a ten minute wait at a station when I came in to the platform, and then when I didn't say anything on my next run I had another controller who asked me why I was still standing at the platform, even though my schedule had another 8 minutes wait. Also, if the single player scenarios with their automated controller chatter is anything to go by, drivers IRL are required to communicate with the controller every time they are ready to depart from a station, before they get their signal. But it doesn't seem like anyone on the server likes that, and controllers almost always just set up my path without me saying anything 🙂 I think mostly being courteous and forgiving with players who are finding their way around is paramount at the moment.

 

Edited March 14, 2023 by jayzhead

[DazT]

Depends what panel/workstation I'm on, if I'm at a small shack in the middle of nowhere, I'd not expect to talk to a driver unless there is an issue.

I don't get being told that I've got a clear signal, if you're going to tell me that then we might as well do away with lineside signals!

[GoppelPL]

The "ready for departure" message is required only at the departure station - you tell the dispatcher that you're in place, you have your conductors, all the papers are ready and from your point of view the train is ready to go. Depending on the station, reporting the train ready may be the conductor's or the driver's job. The report is done 10 or 5 minutes before departure, the dispatcher enters the train data to the EDR and when the time comes, he lights up the signal and the train departs. After that, if everything is normal, you only use the radio when changing radio channels (eg. "Zawiercie, this is train 1401 after channel change, how copy?"). You are required to call the dispatcher when passing the distant signal showing orange light, to ask why weren't you given entrance signal in advance. Apart from that you'd report low catenary voltage, some dangerous situations, explain yourself about the delay or report that your duty is ending and there is a driver change required. There's no "entrance signal on", "exit signal on", "have a good day", "whoa I can't wait for the update" or life updates jibber-jabber like in the game 😉

[Swäntai]

vor 17 Stunden schrieb GoppelPL:

The "ready for departure" message is required only at the departure station - you tell the dispatcher that you're in place, you have your conductors, all the papers are ready and from your point of view the train is ready to go. Depending on the station, reporting the train ready may be the conductor's or the driver's job. The report is done 10 or 5 minutes before departure, the dispatcher enters the train data to the EDR and when the time comes, he lights up the signal and the train departs. After that, if everything is normal, you only use the radio when changing radio channels (eg. "Zawiercie, this is train 1401 after channel change, how copy?"). You are required to call the dispatcher when passing the distant signal showing orange light, to ask why weren't you given entrance signal in advance. Apart from that you'd report low catenary voltage, some dangerous situations, explain yourself about the delay or report that your duty is ending and there is a driver change required. There's no "entrance signal on", "exit signal on", "have a good day", "whoa I can't wait for the update" or life updates jibber-jabber like in the game 😉

Quick question, maybe a little off-topic, but is the route in real life also only equipped with analogue radio instead of GSM-R? Or is that a early access thing that SimRail implemented this way for simplicity' sake?

[GoppelPL]

The whole country is only equipped with analogue radio, they plan to switch to GSM-R in 2025 (for now, the plan was for 2023, 2021 and the 2018 before). 

[DazT]

Sounds just like our railway here in the UK! The best one is the term when something is "Temporary", that means "about 30 years" 🤣

[sf_giants15]

vor 3 Stunden schrieb GoppelPL:

The whole country is only equipped with analogue radio, they plan to switch to GSM-R in 2025 (for now, the plan was for 2023, 2021 and the 2018 before). 

Is there a way to put those rules ingame so that everybody needs to read how the comunication between dispatch an driver is done? Because the majority probably wont read this in the forum. This "jibber-jabber" is sometimes pretty annoying and breaks the realism. 

[Gazz292]

i'm all for realism regarding the driving,  
but to make a 'rule' about no non railway talk might be going a little too far, 

Maybe have one server for 'driving and dispatching as if this was real life'  and leave the others for people who want a more relaxing time in SimRail?  kind of like they have done now with one server that bans track closing due to the problems it causes.

But i know the dispatchers get bored waiting ~20 minutes between trains at times, so being able to chat on the radio / phone in the sim keeps them entertained, and in the UK back in the days of mechanical signal boxes, the signallers would be on the signal box party line (phone line shared between all signal boxes) all the time chatting away, some even practiced their opera singing over the phone line... as soon as a train arrived they stopped and did their job, 
but the alternative was to sit in the chair and possibly fall asleep from boredom,

[DazT]

4 electric heaters on full, in the dark in winter in an armchair in a box on your own with an hour in-between trains was very difficult, well, what I can remember of it zzzzzzZZZZZZZZ 🤣 The trick was finding the armchair sweet spot, it's not quite the same in 24hr office chairs, I'm all for progress but give me a box with levers any day!

PS, long length of carpet over the frame, it stopped the draughts 🤣

Edited March 16, 2023 by DazT

[DazT]

16 minutes ago, Gazz292 said:

one server that bans track closing due to the problems it causes.

Well, you say that............

Not a track closure but someone had managed to cause carnage (NOT the person in the picture btw) had managed to mess up DG, it took 2 hours to clear this mess in the end. I'm not saying how they did it as I don't want to encourage others to do it.

Edited March 16, 2023 by DazT

[Schinken235]

vor 19 Minuten schrieb DazT:

4 electric heaters on full

With at least one window opened for fresh air 

[Blo0dyMustard]

On 3/14/2023 at 10:22 PM, DazT said:

I don't get being told that I've got a clear signal, if you're going to tell me that then we might as well do away with lineside signals!

I do this when I'm in the mood. I do this to let the driver know that they can relax, do their job and not worrying if suddenly there's a red ahead.

[Blo0dyMustard]

51 minutes ago, Gazz292 said:

i'm all for realism regarding the driving,  
but to make a 'rule' about no non railway talk might be going a little too far, 

Maybe have one server for 'driving and dispatching as if this was real life'  and leave the others for people who want a more relaxing time in SimRail?  kind of like they have done now with one server that bans track closing due to the problems it causes.

But i know the dispatchers get bored waiting ~20 minutes between trains at times, so being able to chat on the radio / phone in the sim keeps them entertained, and in the UK back in the days of mechanical signal boxes, the signallers would be on the signal box party line (phone line shared between all signal boxes) all the time chatting away, some even practiced their opera singing over the phone line... as soon as a train arrived they stopped and did their job, 
but the alternative was to sit in the chair and possibly fall asleep from boredom,

I don't think we need to open a specialized "ultra-realistic" server. Maybe the devs can make a simple guide of radio chat that everyone can do. By this everyone can stick to one procedure and the whole operation can be still realistic yet fun and not rigid.

IMO a small talk or a short chat chat between players is okay and won't hurt the whole operation.

Edited March 16, 2023 by Blo0dyMustard
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[Gazz292]

i hear a few dispatchers telling me and other trains that we have a clear run through their section, or that they should expect a yellow or red signal due to a slower train ahead etc. 

If i've been running on all greens for many kilometers then it's not really usefull info, 
But when the Ai dispatcher has been changing signals to green only when i am within ~450 meters of them and so have been slowing down expecting a stop signal due to the last signal being a 'S5'   being told i'll get a clear run through a section can be welcoming. 

 

As only some dispatchers do this shows that they are real live people there, and not an autonomous robot reading from a script.