An operating session brings together the layout, trains, crews, routes, schedules, hardware, and local runtime state.
Before Starting
Confirm:
- The correct layout is selected.
- Hardware state supports the session.
- Trains, crews, routes, schedules, and work assignments are ready.
- Emergency stop is available.
Start Flow
- Open the RailCommand desktop app.
- Select the layout.
- Confirm runtime and hardware health.
- Choose the session mode — Arcade or Operating-Session. Both are always available; the pre-selected one comes from the layout's own "supports operations" checkbox and is only a default.
- Choose Start, Resume, or Join.
- Assign crews and trains.
- Open Engineer Cab, CTC Dispatcher, Yardmaster, or Crew Management for each role.
Web session routes include:
/app/railcommand/operating-sessions/app/railcommand/operating-sessions/create/app/railcommand/operating-sessions/{SessionId}/app/railcommand/crew
If the Session Produced Less Than You Expected
Session Guidance is not a gate and cannot fail — it never prevented a session from starting, and since the 2026-08-20 ruling it does not report a verdict at all. Read it when a session ran but produced less than you wanted: no waybills means no traffic profile or no industries; an empty Yardmaster panel means no yard; an empty dispatcher panel means no blocks. Each row names its own consequence and links to the screen that owns it.
A session that will not START is a different problem, and Session Guidance is never the cause. See RailCommand Operating Sessions for the reasons that do refuse: un-synced layout data, and the signed operating entitlement checked at the new-session boundary.