Patent ID: 8725326

Claim:
A system comprising: an input mechanism configured to be disposed onboard a powered vehicle and for receiving, from an off-board system disposed off of the vehicle, a designated location for the vehicle to travel toward in a route network; and a controller configured to be disposed onboard the vehicle and to receive the designated location from the input mechanism, the controller including a memory that is configured to store routing rules that restrict travel of the vehicle on one or more route segments of the route network, wherein the controller is configured to generate a predicted vehicle route for the vehicle to travel along toward the designated location based on the designated location received from the input mechanism, the controller also configured to send the predicted vehicle route to a dispatcher disposed off-board the vehicle for acceptance or rejection by the dispatcher, the controller further configured to receive, from the dispatcher, a first authorized route that is same as the predicted vehicle route when the dispatcher accepts the predicted vehicle route or receive, from the dispatcher, a second authorized route that is different from the predicted vehicle route when the dispatcher rejects the predicted route, the controller also configured to generate an alternate route for the vehicle to travel along toward the designated location when actual travel of the vehicle deviates from the first authorized route or the second authorized route, the alternate route being based on the routing rules and generated by the controller as the vehicle moves in the route network.