Because of all of the critical functions they have to oversee, railroad managers may need to access their mainframe through a fully-functional interface quickly. This could be true during normal operating hours, but special missions will also require careful data monitoring through convenient, updated systems. Right now, some are considering using trains to bring in water and fix the California drought.
As CNBC describes, there are advantages and disadvantages to this solution. On the one hand, train tank cars can carry thousands more gallons of water than trucks can, and the trains could theoretically reach smaller areas if water wells dry up and become less usable. There's also a history of rail shipments being used to bring water to California towns.
However, the source interviewed Robert Orsi, a historian who pointed out some problems with this idea based on 19th century water transportation efforts.
"It was extremely expensive to deliver it even then, and railroads only did it for their own operations and economic stimulus plans for their regions," he said. "It seems to me, that if this importing is indeed done, it would require vast infrastructure, and finance systems that I can't see actually emerging in this fractious, politically divisive society we live in."
Right now, this is just one theoretical possibility for quenching the drought, but it's perhaps more plausible than some of the other proposed ideas. Others include a water pipeline from Alaska or a plan to bring in icebergs across the Pacific Ocean that the Los Angeles Times called "fantastical."
One way to help railroad companies adapt to extreme situations is to modernize their mainframe for operations that don't need to rely on older PCs for necessary tasks. A mainframe terminal emulator grants these companies more real-time usage.