Support - RailCom®

RailCom is a bi-directional data communications technology found in The NMRA Recommended Practices RP S-9.3.1 and S-9.3.2. RailCom enables bi-directional communication between the command station and decoders, unlike in traditional DCC where the communication is done exclusively in one direction (from the Command Station to the Decoder). The inclusion of RailCom opens up significant opportunities for future features and expansion. For example, the use of RailCom allows for real-time read-back of CVs while programming on the mainline. In traditional DCC, you would only be able to write to a CV, whereas with RailCom, writing and reading on the mainline are both possible. RailCom is a highly-responsive system as well, allowing up to ~126 individual operations per second (depending on the available DCC bandwidth) at a bitrate of 250Kbps by introducing a very brief interruption to the DCC track power. During this interruption, the RailCom detector on the Command Station will send or receive information to and from the decoder.