A system for performing track maintenance operations, comprising: a lead vehicle for identifying sections of rail that have been pre-marked for track maintenance operations, the lead vehicle having a control system for assigning and transmitting coordinates of the pre-marked track sections, the lead vehicle including: a track section locator and an encoder wheel for mapping the track sections to be worked; an identifier disposed between the track section locator and an operator position of the lead vehicle, the identifier configured to obtain a dataset representative of the track sections; and a control system usable by an operator to identify the pre-marked track sections to be worked on, the control system includes a display interface and a display and is configured to: display the dataset obtained by the identifier; receive an input to identify a first track section that correspond to a first pre-marked track section to be worked on; and in response to the input, assign coordinates corresponding to the first track section based on information from the track section locator and the encoder wheel; and transmit the coordinates of the first track section; and one or more drone vehicles, each drone vehicle being configured to receive coordinates from the control system and, each drone vehicle having at least one workhead configured to perform track maintenance operations on the first track section at the received coordinates. a lead vehicle for identifying sections of rail that have been pre-marked for track maintenance operations, the lead vehicle having a control system for assigning and transmitting coordinates of the pre-marked track sections, the lead vehicle including: a track section locator and an encoder wheel for mapping the track sections to be worked; an identifier disposed between the track section locator and an operator position of the lead vehicle, the identifier configured to obtain a dataset representative of the track sections; and a control system usable by an operator to identify the pre-marked track sections to be worked on, the control system includes a display interface and a display and is configured to: display the dataset obtained by the identifier; receive an input to identify a first track section that correspond to a first pre-marked track section to be worked on; and in response to the input, assign coordinates corresponding to the first track section based on information from the track section locator and the encoder wheel; and transmit the coordinates of the first track section; and a track section locator and an encoder wheel for mapping the track sections to be worked; an identifier disposed between the track section locator and an operator position of the lead vehicle, the identifier configured to obtain a dataset representative of the track sections; and a control system usable by an operator to identify the pre-marked track sections to be worked on, the control system includes a display interface and a display and is configured to: display the dataset obtained by the identifier; receive an input to identify a first track section that correspond to a first pre-marked track section to be worked on; and in response to the input, assign coordinates corresponding to the first track section based on information from the track section locator and the encoder wheel; and transmit the coordinates of the first track section; and display the dataset obtained by the identifier; receive an input to identify a first track section that correspond to a first pre-marked track section to be worked on; and in response to the input, assign coordinates corresponding to the first track section based on information from the track section locator and the encoder wheel; and transmit the coordinates of the first track section; and assign coordinates corresponding to the first track section based on information from the track section locator and the encoder wheel; and transmit the coordinates of the first track section; and one or more drone vehicles, each drone vehicle being configured to receive coordinates from the control system and, each drone vehicle having at least one workhead configured to perform track maintenance operations on the first track section at the received coordinates.