Patent ID: 7219067

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for automated management of a plurality of railroad transportation system and business entity assets by a transportation business entity, the plurality of railroad transportation system and business entity assets comprising a train including at least one locomotive and at least one of piece of rolling stock, at least one railroad support vehicle, at least one piece of railroad support equipment, and at least one business entity facility, said method comprising the steps of: collecting a first set of transportation data from at least one sub-system associated with a railroad transportation system, asset and collecting a second set of transportation data from at least one subsystem associated with a business entity asset; transmitting the first and second sets of transportation data to a central data center via a communication link; comparing the first and second sets of collected transportation data set to a standard transportation data set; generating at least one problem area data set based upon the comparison of the collected and standard data, the problem area data set including a transportation business entity schedule impact, and a transportation business entity asset requirement; prioritizing each generated problem area data set relative to each other generated problem area data set; recommending business activities relating to managing the plurality of railroad transportation system assets and business entity assets of the transportation business entity based on the priority of the problem area data sets such that a total transportation business entity delay time is minimized wherein recommending business activities relating to managing the transportation business entity includes at least one of altering an asset allocation priority, generating a maintenance action based on an actual or an anticipated failure due to recent transportation system activity, and altering a state of a transportation system environmental system to protect a cargo, and wherein based on a component failure analysis, recommending business activities relating to managing the transportation business entity also includes at least one of determining a location of emergency equipment, recommending a location for a repair facility, determining an emergency equipment inventory, and determining an inventory for each repair facility; and transmitting the recommendations to the plurality of railroad transportation system assets from a central data center to facilitate implementing the recommendations.