SANTE FE RAILWAY RESERVATION SYSTEM   
      
   The process of obtaining a railroad reservation has   
   long been an irritating and frustrating part of railroad   
   travel. This problem has been a source of concern and   
   the subject of study by many of the country's leading   
   railroads, but relief is now at hand through the help of   
   modern electronics.   
      
   In July the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway   
   put into service an automated electronic system for handling   
   its passenger reservations. This combination data   
   processing and communications system enables Santa   
   Fe reservations personnel from Los Angeles to Chicago   
   to make reservations for customers in a matter of seconds   
   instead of hours or even days as has been the case   
   in the past. The system is called the Magnetronic Reservisor   
   and was designed, built, installed, and is maintained   
   by The Teleregister Corporation of Stamford,   
   Connecticut.   
      
   This equipment will process for Santa Fe Railway's   
   sales agents all standard railroad accommodation transactions:   
   (1) reserving the accommodation; (2) selling   
   the accommodation and removing it from the inventory;   
   and (3) cancelling previously made reservations when   
   necessary. Agents perform these transactions through a   
   piece of equipment not much larger than a typewriter,   
   which produces a duplicate printed record of each transaction   
   including a complete identification of the train   
   space involved. This information includes the date, the   
   train number, the car number, the particular seat, drawing   
   room or bedroom number, and a customer's identification   
   number.   
      
   Each of the Santa Fe agent sets is connected through   
   specialized communications equipment and over a network   
   of leased lines to the center of the Magnetronic   
   Reservisor which is located at LaSalle Street Station,   
   Chicago. This is the data processing center for all of   
   Santa Fe's reservations information. It consists primarily   
   of two magnetic memory drums and some fortyodd   
   racks of computing and communications equipment.   
      
   This is capable of keeping track of a total of 148,000   
   accommodations for any period up to 6 months prior   
   to train departure date. This equipment is also capable   
   of handling a reservations transaction originated in one   
   of the agent sets in approximately a half second.   
   In addition to the standard accommodations transactions,   
   the system provides the Santa Fe with. the following   
   services:   
      
   a. Cushion Control-provides advance warning when   
   available space is critically low.   
      
   b. Priority Control- provides for systematic selling   
   of available space, in response to random requests, at   
   any time and in any sequence desired by management.   
      
   c. Wait-list Control- keeps a record of requests for   
   which there is no space available so that the first   
   cancellation can be given to the first person on the   
   waiting list.   
      
   d. Expiration and Cancellation Control- When the   
   agent reserves space, he informs the customer that the   
   ticket must be picked up and paid for by a certain date   
   and time. In the event that the customer fails to pick   
   up the ticket before this expiration time, the Reservisor   
   automatically cancels the reservation, making it available   
   for another passenger.   
      
   e. Records Display - provides for printed records   
   of any of the sales information or data stored in the   
   machine to be quickly available to railroad management.   
      
   This information is automatically arranged by the machine   
   in the most convenient and useful manner, such   
   as passenger lists for conductors (called consists), a   
   count or list of transactions for each train car, a count   
   of all the transactions by each agent, and many other important   
   reports and statistics.   
      
   The Reservisor is in service seven days a week, 365   
   days a year, and is only taken off line for testing and   
   maintenance routine during certain hours in the early   
   morning when there is virtually no traffic. The data   
   processing equipment is designed for rapid and easy   
   maintenance by the use of plug-in elements which, when   
   they require replacement, may be removed and changed   
   in a few seconds. Dual facilities are provided for critical   
   functions so that one piece of equipment constantly   
   double-checks the performance of its opposite number;   
   also if one rack has to be taken off line for maintenance,   
   its dual counterpart carries on the functions   
   by itself.   
      
   C&A 1959-10   
      
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