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The choice of dispatching software

The dispatching system in use at the Zurich dispatching center is about ten years old. It is thus about five years older than the SURF system at the SBB dispatching centers in Lausanne and Luzern.

SURF was originally developed for the regional express network that serves the Paris metropolitan area. (See the French-language section of the web site of Steria, the supplier of SURF.)

The original maker of the Zurich system has now been taken over by the German firm Vossloh (see the Vossloh web site), which originally sold railway hardware but now also offers systems for the real-time management and control of industrial systems.

According to the person I talked to at the Zurich dispatching center, the SURF system was not adopted in Zurich because it lacks certain features that are desirable in the high-density traffic in the Zurich subdivision, including an indication of the blocks that have been cleared ahead of a train and a clear separation of train numbers for different trains, which in SURF tend to be written one over the other on the display.

On the other hand, the dispatcher using SURF does enjoy certain new features, such as being able to click on a train's path and get its weight and maximal speed.

As I continue to add information to this web site, I hope to add comments on the advantages that led to SURF's installation in Lausanne and Luzern. It is not surprising to discover that in rail dispatching - as in most other fields and industries - competing companies have developed different software products, each with its strengths and weaknesses.