US 12,269,520 B1
Systems and methods for efficiently switching railcars in a railroad yard
Thomas C. Simmons, Trophy Club, TX (US); April Y. Kuo, Colleyville, TX (US); Kevin N. Crook, Fort Worth, TX (US); Dasaradh R. Mallampati, Trophy Club, TX (US); Vishal Badyal, Haslet, TX (US); and Paul Kuhn, Fort Worth, TX (US)
Assigned to BNSF Railway Company, Fort Worth, TX (US)
Filed by BNSF Railway Company, Fort Worth, TX (US)
Filed on Apr. 29, 2024, as Appl. No. 18/649,356.
Application 18/649,356 is a continuation of application No. 18/522,186, filed on Nov. 28, 2023, granted, now 11,970,195.
Int. Cl. B61L 17/00 (2006.01); B61L 21/08 (2006.01); B61L 27/02 (2006.01)
CPC B61L 17/00 (2013.01) [B61L 21/08 (2013.01); B61L 27/02 (2013.01)] 18 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A system for identifying switch moves to route cuts to a desired consist, comprising:
one or more memory units configured to store a plurality of train rules and a current inventory of railcars in a railyard; and
one or more processors operably coupled to the one or more memory units and configured to:
identify a train symbol to build and the railcars associated with the train symbol located in a railyard;
construct, via a switch list generator, an option tree of states representing potential railcar moves, until an optimal desired end state is achieved wherein the optimal desired end state includes the state with the fewest number of expected switch moves or the lowest expected switch distance;
prune options in the option tree of states that do not comply with one or more rules;
sort, via one or more processors, a plurality of potential railcar moves to build an optimized consist;
identify, from the option tree of states sorting results, a listing of end states that do not violate the one or more rules;
display indications of the listing of end states that do not violate the one or more rules and the associated number of railyard switch moves on an electronic display.