Looking Ahead

Looking Ahead to 2025

Each year, Railinc works in close coordination with the AAR's Railinc Committee and various AAR committees to identify programs that will ensure the highest value from industry investments. Below, you will find a few examples of what our teams will be working on in the year ahead:

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EDI 8050 Upgrades for Several Applications

Railinc’s Rate EDI Network (REN), Industry Reference File System (MRIRF), and Interline Settlement System (ISS) will receive updates to be compliant with the EDI 8050 Rail standard. Forward and Store received this update in 2024. These updates will keep Railinc applications compliant with industry regulations.

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Machine Vision Alerts & Alert Analysis with AI

One project and one study are centered on how artificial intelligence is used to improve industry safety and efficiency:

  • Thousands of images of railcar components are captured by detectors and stored within railroad machine vision portals to spot defects on trains more easily than human inspections. The Machine Vision Alert project will add alerts generated by those portals to the industry alert repository – Railinc’s Equipment Health Management System (EHMS). Opening alerts at the industry level improves alert visibility and safety across interchange.
  • The Alert Analysis study will conduct a detailed analysis of existing alert algorithms in EHMS for potential improvements that would reduce the incidence of false alerts and line of road failures.
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Rail Industry GIS Expansion Continues

Building on the work completed in the 2024 RIGIS Expansion project, covered elsewhere in this report, the GIS Committee will create a new standard for railroad routing, improvements for station-to-station and ad hoc mileage calculations, and enhanced route restriction and alternate path options. This new standard will enhance railroad capabilities, increase efficiencies across the industry by establishing a single “gold standard” in mileage calculations across railroads, and reduce railroad costs by eliminating redundant and disparate processes.

AskRail Value Expansion for Emergency Communications Centers

The Railinc team will develop an integration for Emergency Communications Centers (ECCs) to consume AskRail data directly, update the consist schema to contain all needed information for AskRail. A sunset plan will be implemented for the mobile app to be replaced by the Launchpad version. These enhancements will increase AskRail coverage, availability for ECCs, and overall industry safety.

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The full list of projects is available on Railinc.com