RAILROAD VIRTUAL TRACK BLOCK SYSTEM

A railroad track control system for maintaining a braking distance onboard a locomotive comprising a plurality of control systems each disposed at a corresponding end of a corresponding physical track block, each control system operable to detect a presence of a train within the corresponding physical track block; determine an occupancy of the train within at least one virtual track block of a plurality of virtual track blocks within the corresponding physical track block; combining multiple wayside occupancy data into one common view of train occupancy; and transmit a virtual track block position (VBP) message identifying the occupancy of at least one virtual track block within the corresponding physical track block to computers onboard locomotives in the vicinity.