It’s not quite a crystal ball, but for Union Pacific train crews a new tech solution – Field Vision – may be nearly as valuable as they deliver customer freight safely and efficiently.
Thanks to Field Vision, craft professionals will have direct visibility into the trains and crews 200 miles around them, providing a better sense of their schedules and train statuses to make informed decisions, anticipate efficient crew changes and take more ownership of their work.
The railroad’s user experience and development teams responsible for DigiCrew, Union Pacific’s mobile app for various field tasks, spent nearly a year of research, design and development on the project. Because of their efforts, Field Vision is now available on all handheld mobile devices used by craft professionals, known as Zebra devices. Train crew participation and feedback led to improved mobile accessibility.
“Field Vision aims to enhance crews’ work environments by providing visibility into the train movement around them and how it might affect their workday,” said Chris Jackman, director, Tech, and DigiCrew team member.
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For example, a train crew nearing the end of their shift but stopped in a siding can use Field Vision to gain an instant understanding of when traffic will begin moving and whether a new crew or overtime may be necessary. The initiative also is expected to enhance communication flow between train dispatchers and crews.
In addition to Field Vision, Radio Connect and Mechanical Defect also are now available on Zebra devices across the railroad. Radio Connect enables employees to use their Zebra device as a secondary method of communicating, helping them stay connected when handheld radio communication is unavailable. Mechanical Defect allows employees to submit photos taken on the Zebra device to expedite defect reports, leading to faster and more accurate solutions to main line issues when working with Union Pacific’s Operating Practices Command Center.
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