A method for autonomously dumping material along a railway comprising: assembling a consist including a plurality of hopper cars containing a material to be dumped and at least one control car that includes a master controller and a navigation unit, the master controller controlling hopper doors on each of the hopper cars and including a track survey file indicating a location of a dump zone along a track in which to dump at least a portion of the material and indicating a quantity of the material to dump in the dump zone, and the navigation unit determining a perceived geographic location of the control car; querying each of the hopper cars by the master controller to determine the position of each hopper car in the consist; moving the consist along the track; the master controller determining that the geographic location of at least one of the hopper cars is within the dump zone and that the quantity of material to be dumped in said dump zone is not fulfilled, the geographic location of the at least one of the hopper cars being determined based on the position of each hopper car in the consist relative to the perceived geographic location of the control car; the master controller opening the hopper door on the at least one hopper car to dump the material in the dump zone; the master controller closing the hopper door when the at least one hopper car leaves the dump zone or when the quantity of material has been dumped, characterized in that the method further comprises the steps: the master controller determining a first geographic location of a forward most one of the control car and the hopper cars in the consist; the master controller determining, based on the first geographic location that the consist is not on the track indicated by the track survey file; and placing the consist in a wait state in which the hopper cars are operational but restricted from opening their hopper doors whereby the master controller can return the consist to a full operational state or place the consist to a disengaged state to await operator intervention either directly or remotely from a control center. assembling a consist including a plurality of hopper cars containing a material to be dumped and at least one control car that includes a master controller and a navigation unit, the master controller controlling hopper doors on each of the hopper cars and including a track survey file indicating a location of a dump zone along a track in which to dump at least a portion of the material and indicating a quantity of the material to dump in the dump zone, and the navigation unit determining a perceived geographic location of the control car; querying each of the hopper cars by the master controller to determine the position of each hopper car in the consist; moving the consist along the track; the master controller determining that the geographic location of at least one of the hopper cars is within the dump zone and that the quantity of material to be dumped in said dump zone is not fulfilled, the geographic location of the at least one of the hopper cars being determined based on the position of each hopper car in the consist relative to the perceived geographic location of the control car; the master controller opening the hopper door on the at least one hopper car to dump the material in the dump zone; the master controller closing the hopper door when the at least one hopper car leaves the dump zone or when the quantity of material has been dumped, characterized in that the method further comprises the steps: the master controller determining a first geographic location of a forward most one of the control car and the hopper cars in the consist; the master controller determining, based on the first geographic location that the consist is not on the track indicated by the track survey file; and placing the consist in a wait state in which the hopper cars are operational but restricted from opening their hopper doors whereby the master controller can return the consist to a full operational state or place the consist to a disengaged state to await operator intervention either directly or remotely from a control center. the master controller determining a first geographic location of a forward most one of the control car and the hopper cars in the consist; the master controller determining, based on the first geographic location that the consist is not on the track indicated by the track survey file; and placing the consist in a wait state in which the hopper cars are operational but restricted from opening their hopper doors whereby the master controller can return the consist to a full operational state or place the consist to a disengaged state to await operator intervention either directly or remotely from a control center.