Patent ID: 8768543

Claim:
A method comprising: creating a first trip plan for a trip of a first rail vehicle along a track using first track segment information stored in a database, the first track segment information representative of one or more physical characteristics of the track to be traveled along during the trip, the first trip plan designating operational settings of the first rail vehicle in accordance with one or more operational criteria for the first rail vehicle in order to reduce at least one of emissions generated or fuel consumed by the first rail vehicle as the first rail vehicle travels along the track for the trip, wherein the operational settings of the first trip plan include at least one of designated throttle settings, designated brake settings, or designated power settings for the first rail vehicle that are expressed as a function of at least one of time or distance along the track; monitoring actual operating conditions of the first rail vehicle as the first rail vehicle moves along the track according to the first trip plan, wherein the actual operating conditions of the first rail vehicle include at least one of actual throttle settings, actual brake settings, or actual power settings of the first rail vehicle; using one or more processors, identifying a mismatch between the actual operating conditions of the first rail vehicle at one or more locations along the track and one or more expected operating conditions of the first rail vehicle at the one or more locations, the one or more expected operating conditions determined from the first track segment information used to create the first trip plan; modifying the first track segment information stored in the database to updated track segment information responsive to the mismatch being identified, wherein the first track segment information is modified with information about the mismatch; and creating one or more additional trip plans for at least one of the first rail vehicle or an additional rail vehicle to travel along the track using the updated track segment information.