Not mentioned so far, is a couple of very darn good reasons why the dispatcher is not given the exact aspect. He is just given whether the signal is "requested", "cleared" "in time", or "quiescent" - things that he must act upon. And if a signal is fully automatic, he doesn't even need that.

That reason is, the ergonomic factor (my minor in college), that too much information leads quickly to confusion and mistakes. The fact is, that the dispatcher has absolutely no need for such information; as he is not the one who must do anything depending upon the exact aspect - the engineman and conductor approaching any particular signal are the only ones who must act - on that signal.

So couldn't he just help out by relaying signals in advance? Absolutely Not! The locomotive engineer must focus on only the one signal he just passed and the one he is approaching - any more to keep track of just adds to the chance of error. There is nothing he can or should do about the other signals anyway; until he gets to them, and can see for himself.

Besides, what if the signal drops more restrictive after it has been radioed - as it easily could at any time; now the dispatcher's report is dangerously false.

But then the most dangerous and likeliest cause of error, would be that the dispatcher can have hundreds of such aspects before him at once. The resultant high chance of reading the wrong one to an engineer is just too great. Whereas the locomotive engineer has only the signal in front of him to look at - and thus much less chance of a deadly mistake.

One area that can be debated, is whether the dispatcher should inform trains of where he intends to do meets and passes, or crossovers. If he does, trainmen at least know what to expect. On the other hand, expecting a series of greens could lead to lapses of inattention, leading to an accident.

It took over hundred years for the industry to figure all this out (and a lot of pain and sorrow too) - we tamper at great peril if we don't take all that into account. Most of us are unaware of much of this, and so should be more circumspect.

Some outfits around here need to get back to basics - like not running the reds - like applying the brakes promptly upon passing an approach aspect. There is a damn good reason for that rule! If they just did that, very few accidental running of the reds would ever occur - without the signal system already accounting for it (that's what "running time" is for).