Patent Document ID: 7725249
Application ID: 11342874
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A method of managing congestion in a railway system having a network of track and a plurality of trains scheduled to traverse the rail network comprising: (a) detecting congestion along the rail network and identifying a first train involved in the congestion; (b) identifying a back-off area surrounding the congestion defined as a function of one of the train density in the congestion, train density in the outlying area, type of the congestion, size of the congestion or track topography; (c) selecting a safe spot outside the back-off area for a second train that was previously planned to enter the back-off area; (d) planning the movement of the second train to the safe spot; (e) identifying alternative resources available to alleviate congestion; and (f) planning the movement of the first train using the identified alternative resources.