Do (US) locomotives...know where they're going?
So Ive been really into aviation and I aspire to be an airline pilot, but I also like trains for context. In the world there are basically a bunch of published coordinates with 5-letter pronounceable names, and airplanes fly between them as a route. Sometimes an entire row, or line of these waypoints gets published and thats called an airway, so basically like a highway in the sky (for an example, BEBOP R464 BITTA, a pilot might file that hes gonna fly over waypoint BEBOP and then follow airway R464 and exit at BITTA). Airplanes also usually calculate top of descent, i.e. when you should start going down.
Now enough airplane talk, I went on the coast starlight recently and wondered if trains know where theyre going.
Does the leading/trailing locomotive know all the stations theyre gonna stop at and the timetable?
Do they give the engineer an ETA at the next station?
Do they calculate when the engineer should start slowing down for a station (like a top of descent but for braking)?
Does the locomotive increase/decrease speed to the track speed or by a custom speed target like in an aircraft's autopilot?
Does say, Amtrak, file a route with all the different subdivisions the train will go over?
Now Im sure because trains are confined to a track...it likley isnt as complicated as aircraft, but regardless id still love to hear what they do and dont to be a little more informed on my next trip!