Building the Industry's Future

Product Updates and Improvements

Umler®
umler

Railinc’s Umler® team delivered a number of improvements throughout the year, including an enhanced add-back process that improves efficiency by making it easier to move equipment back to active status for restenciling and other operations; updates to the language within the Data Specifications Manual in order to communicate clear and consistent industry standards so users can better understand field requirements, saving time and avoiding confusion. In addition, the product support team hosted six webinars covering the fundamentals of the Umler system, company administrator permissions, and an overview of the Component Registry.

Customer Identification File
identity

Updates to the Customer Identification File make it easier for customers to add and view documentation within the application, allowing users to get up to speed on the product quickly and providing anyone a quicker, better understanding of CIF processes; updates also allow an automated email notification for pending maintenance requests, helping to save time and effort instead of manually checking the application; and improve the mass upload functionality when adding many new or updated customer records, which reduces the amount of time spent managing uploads.

Location Management Information System
location

Locomotive Management Information System updates empower users to manage their locomotives’ health information more efficiently by giving a better understanding of field requirements when creating engine families and industry reference data for locomotives; and by providing the ability to retroactively modify a locomotive’s engine family in the event of a change, which helps avoid costly errors.

Clear Path®
clear_path

Clear Path provides a real-time overview of activities in the Chicago terminal, allowing railroads to plan train movements more efficiently and collaborate more effectively. The Clear Path® team continued outreach efforts to determine business needs and connected with users across several railroad departments to roll out customized interfaces to support safety and protection of shipments, trains, and railroaders.

Loading Authority (OT-57)
tracks7

A new self-service audit feature in Loading Authority (OT-57) makes operations easier for equipment owners, fleet managers, and railroad users, and allows for better visibility of equipment and better asset utilization.

Impact of Railinc Messaging Systems

  • Railinc messaging systems connect railroads, equipment owners, repair shops, and industry stakeholders, enabling seamless communication across locations.
  • These systems support critical use cases in railroad operations, such as sending waybills, sharing inspection and equipment health data, and facilitating interline revenue settlements.
  • Users can customize connections, translations, and message formats, saving time and money compared to manual efforts.
  • The industry uses over 40 electronic document interchange (EDI) transaction sets daily to streamline operations.
  • Applications like the AAR Embargo System and Electronic Air Brake Slips enable faster, cheaper, and more accurate information exchange with reduce risk of loss.

A Brief Look into Railinc Industry Projects

project

Advancing Alerting and Analysis for Rail Operations

  • Railinc developed new HBD alerts in coordination with project teams and AAR’s Manual of Standard and Recommended Practices (MSRP) to better identify bearings trending toward failure. Railinc developed a new process to receive and redistribute railroad-reported HBD Trending alerts (HBD_TRND, formerly R19). Additionally, Railinc created three alerts - HBD, HBD_ABD, and HBD_WILD - based on MSRP guidance. All four new HBD alerts require multiple criteria to trigger.
  • Improvements to the Derailment Analysis Reporting Tool (DART) to create additional component type report options, a new search method to provide the railroads with a full picture of the equipment's health to assist in post-derailment analysis, and enhancing the export's headers for better understanding and usability of DART.
  • With the Cold Wheel Temperature Alerting project, the Railinc team worked with the industry to enable cold wheel alerts (WTDC) that signal a wheel has been cold on a braking train multiple times, recommending but not requiring an inspection.
project2

Location Management: Supporting Railroad Logistics

  • The 2024 Rail Industry GIS (RIGIS) Value Expansion project supported industry needs with an elevated focus on routing capabilities – building on the success of the industry managed and maintained RIGIS Connected Network.  The industry can now consume a new RIGIS Routing Network, which will allow for the creation of a new standard cross-carrier mileage calculation.
  • The Location Master file received improvements to data quality and Railinc applications and business processes consuming the data were identified and prioritized for future integration efforts. Data within the Location Master file is vital for railroad mileage and rate calculations.
project3

Improvements to Data Accuracy Within Interline Applications

  • In 2024, enhancements were made to the data accuracy and adoption of Forward and Store (F&S) validations, which will translate to improved accuracy and completion of Interline waybills, thus preventing delays at interchange.
  • F&S also received upgrades to the EDI 417 (Waybill) and EDI 421 (Trip Plans) message types to keep the industry synchronized, improve communications between carriers, and to prevent productivity losses.
  • Adding to the updates listed above for CIF, the team worked to move management of all CIF records for the industry, which would lead to improved waybill completeness, reduction of shipment delay costs, and the removal of manual re-work that happened due to the sync process with Dun & Bradstreet.