One of the first enterprise-wide GIS applications developed by Conrail is focused on the analysis of railroad commodity flows (called COMFLO). Conrail views COMFLO as a strategic application that allows easier access to those factors which govern business decisions and are related to the flow of commodities over its rail network. The application gives the user the ability to query three years of car movement data on the Conrail system by commodity and by car type. This allows the user to determine the amount of flow, the costs incurred by Conrail and the net revenue gained by the shipments. These data are associated in Conrail's central ArcInfo GIS to network links or rail lines, or to groups of stations.
The results of the users' queries are presented in both map and report formats. COMFLO is designed for Silicon Graphics UNIX workstations using AML, AVENUE, C, and C++. There is a basic ArcView 2 for the end users and a more elaborate ArcInfo interface in ArcInfo for the maintenance user.
COMFLO brings to Conrail an enterprise solution which links company databases, allows the end user to perform multiple what-if scenarios, provides standardization of both input and output products, facilitates data verification by data visualization within an easy to use environment. The application is building on GIS-supported activities within Conrail to verify and update the Conrail rail network. COMFLO adds additional functionality for spatial analysis through the overlay of polygonal databases such as counties and zip code boundaries with the existing rail network databases. The ability to intersect the line data with the polygonal data provides Conrail with a variety of previously unavailable information for decision support.
Future versions of COMFLO will include a Windows NT version, and the capability to review the Conrail-owned rail network and its relation to other rail networks. Also expected in future versions is the capability to anlayze the impact of trucking on rail transport of commodities.
Arun Vaidya
Conrail
P.O. Box 41419
2001 Market St. 19-C
Philadelphia, PA 19101-1419
Telephone: 215-209-5681
Fax: 215-209-1338
Email: jbrown@gistrans.com
Peter Cook
GIS/Trans, Ltd.
Allen Wainger
GIS/Trans Ltd.