Railcar Tracking Learning Center

This learning center provides useful information for the rail shipper and/or railcar fleet owner related to the tracking of rail shipments and management of railcar fleets. There are occasional news notices from Railcar Tracking Co. as well as How To articles that demonstrate how to automate certain rail shipment tracking and railcar fleet management activities.

Track & Trace Railcar Shipments with Burlington Northern Santa Fe’s BNSF.com

Burlington Northern Santa Fe is another Class I railroad that provides web-based tools for rail shippers and receivers to track their shipments. They package their railcar tracking tools into what is called BNSF.com. You can plan a shipment, get pricing, bill a shipment and pay for a shipment here, but...

Track & Trace Railcar Shipments with Norfolk Southern’s accessNS

Norfolk Southern is another Class I railroad that provides web-based tools for rail shippers and receivers to track their shipments. They package their railcar tracking tools into what is called accessNS. You can plan a shipment, get pricing, bill a shipment and pay for a shipment here, but this article...

Track & Trace Railcar Shipments with ShipCSX

This article has been updated on 1/27/2017 to reflect the latest updates to ShipCSX CSX Transportation is one Class I railroad that provides web-based tools for rail shippers and receivers to track their shipments. They package their railcar tracking tools into what is called ShipCSX. You can plan a shipment, get...

Track and trace your rail shipments for free

If you ship or receive freight on rail, at some point you are going to want to have visibility of where those railcars are and when they are going to arrive. The Class I railroads provide web-based railcar shipment tracking tools with varying functionality. This is the beginning of a...

Railcar Repair: Save Money By Using This Free Software

In this article, I am going to explain how you can save a significant amount of money and time by using a recently updated, free software tool that you can download and install right now. Several years ago, I reviewed a piece of software named Invoice21 developed by RailTech Software...

How To Install Invoice21 To View / Print Railcar Repair Invoices For Free

In a previous article, I review and explain the benefit of Invoice21, show sample reports and how to use it. Basically it is a free software that enables you to view / print easy to read, detailed copies of railcar repair invoices. In this article, you will learn how to...

Demurrage and detention from a carload perspective

The terms Demurrage and Detention are used quite a bit in the rail industry. Sometimes they seem to be used interchangeably or used differently depending on the type of rail shipping (i.e. intermodal vs. carload). If you have ever wondered about the meaning and usage of these terms particularly within...

Railcar Tracking Blog has a new name and new location

Railcar Tracking Blog (http://railcartracking.wordpress.com) , established in 2011, is a place where rail shippers, receivers, and railcar fleet owners can find helpful information related to tracking rail shipments and managing railcar fleets. The blog is sponsored by Railcar Tracking Company (RTC) and the articles were written by RTC with occasional input from other industry experts. The...

How To Use AAR Car Type Codes in Railcar Management System (RMS)

This brief article explains how AAR Car Type Codes can be used in Railcar Management System (RMS). Step 1. Update one or more railcar records with the appropriate AAR Car Type Code. Step 2. Clone a Daily Report such as Last Sighting by Destination then add the AARType field to...

AAR Car Type Codes Explained & Resources

The Association of American Railroads (AAR) developed the car code. The first letter of the code identifies the major category of the railcar. The following three numbers identify more specific characteristics about the railcar such as dimension, roof type, door type, capacity (gallons or cubit feet), load limit, floor type, coupler...

What is a CIF and what does it have to do with tracking railcars?

If you ship or receive rail shipments and attempt to track these shipments, you may have experienced the problem of not having visibility of some shipments due to your company not getting listed on the waybill or due to the way your company is listed on the waybill. You may have heard the terms "CIF"...

What features are commonly included in a rail shipment tracking and fleet management system?

Rail shipment tracking and fleet management systems are offered by several vendors, which offer many similar features. These systems lower administrative costs, improve supply chain performance and increase utilization of railcar fleets. This article summarizes those most common features and then also points out some less common features. Overall, I hope...

How a Rail Shipment Tracking System Can Save You Money

Having a single system that can track the locations of your rail shipments and/or railcar fleet across railroads is definitely more convenient, but does it really save you money? You may be struggling to quantify the cost benefit of a system like this. If so, please read on. Reduce Administrative...

Railroad Demurrage Liability Changes

On April 9, 2014 the Surface Transportation Board (STB) decided to revise the existing rules pertaining to 1) who may charge demurrage and 2) who is subject to demurrage. The new rules took effect on July 15, 2014. The complete decision and related statements to support the decision may be...

How much does a railcar tracking software system cost (Part II)?

In February of last year, I wrote the first part of this series that focused on the cost of data, which is the core cost of any railcar tracking system. I promised that the first part would be followed up with more information about the total cost of this type...