How do railroads keep track of their boxcars?

Question

How do railroads keep track of their boxcars?

Answer 1

Just about all of the Class 1 railways in North America today have some sort of software package(s) that assist them in keeping tabs on cars on their system.  Used in conjunction with paper switch lists, the occasional "straight check" (employee manually checking cars in a track or tracks), cameras, and the AEI system, the railways can keep reasonably accurate track of their cars.

Every car in interchange service in North America is equipped with an AEI (automated equipment identification) tag, which is a grey transponder unique to that particular car.  There are two transponders on each car (one on each side), and at various points along the main line, scanners can read the transponders, much in the same way that various highways use transponders in vehicles for toll collection.

The AEI scanners are hooked into the railway's computer system, and can provide accurate sequencing for each train or cut of cars.

Answer 2

Today, freight cars as well as locomotives have AEI tags on each side of the frame and are read from AEI readers located at terminals and different key line of road locations.

AEI tags are similar to these "fast pay" readers on gas pumps at some gas stations that allow you to simply wave your card in front of it and pump gas.  It is a passive data information device.

When a train arrives in a major terminal where the trains are broken up and re classified for routing, the cars pass another reader and the location of the car is logged in the computer software as to what track it is going in.

For instance, a box car arrives in Atlanta from Augusta and is going to Nashville. The car would be classified into a track with other cars going to Nashville.

As these cars are built into a Nashville bound train, the yardmaster and switching crew double checks the car number visually.

As the train leaves the terminal, it will hit another AEI scanner which then shows the car by that point. This continues until the car reaches its destination.



As for cars in a local switching environment, todays local and yard switching crews (on CSX) have a computerized on-board work order terminal pad in which they input their switching and car placement data.

This device is wireless and uploads placement data in real time so that car tracking is made much easier and accurate.  



Many locomotives as well as many private owner freight cars have their own GPS system on them and are tracked using satellite technology.

Modern railroads have come a long way in avoiding lost freight cars.

Answer 3

Click the link below ... I think it pretty much will explain it for you. I don't know much about trains but I understood it, learn something new everyday. heh

Answer 4

Computers do it all

Answer 5

there is  a few ways #1 on the side of every car is a sign which when passing certain places on the way picks up the sign by use  of a t.v. cam that sorts out this info on a printout and the yard master does keep track of this sending this info to the main office by computer.

Answer 6

its not as hard as you might believe.  all the yards keep (or should) keep an updated list of what cars are in what track, we call it a track list at CSX-- the yardmaster uses this track list to have trains built and brake tested for outbound travel, in addition to that, some conductors have to book (take inventory) their trains, and in other instances, we pass by little cameras that book the car number, its position in the train and tells us if its a load or not, we call it a "camera shot" and its sent to the headquaters and our on-board computer (its like a generic laptop that we use to log in the work that we've done and their times) --oh yeah, there are some cars and engines that have GPS, for example, here in FL we ship alot of orange juice for tropicana, there cars are equipped with GPS so they know where they are at all times and also it enables them to turn their refrigiration units on and off by remote access, gotta keep the juice cold  -- don't get me wrong b/c even with all the technology the railroads use to keep track of their railcars some still manage to get lost every now and then.  something else to remember also is that the railroads don't neccesarily own every railcar they are hauling-- alot of the times the cars will belong to customers, and you know what the saying is, "nobody is going to take care of your stuff like you do"

Answer 7

Paper weigh bills.

Answer 8

Well, being as how the last "yard check" was performed about 25 years ago, they are kept track of by various mechanical/electronic means.

Of course, in this neck of the woods a pick up list means little.  The cars may be where they are supposed to, in the correct order, or not.   But it winds up being how the local left it, which sometimes means it was left "as usual."  Got an extra crew on the local and all bets are off.

Answer 9

Every car has an individual number. The railroads use the TOPS system - Total Operations Processing System. The number of each boxcar is listed on the consist of the train. They know which car is on which train, and they know where the train is going, what time it's leaving, what time it should arrive.

Answer 10

There are computerized cams on CSX's routes at various places, some of which the Cab drivers will duck so the cam wont be spying on them. the cams are monitored and the cars are likely tracked thru a database based on customers cargo and where its headed.

Other companies have electronic forms of tracking their car units, and i wouldnt be surprised if there wasa GPS sytem in play sometime soon, essentially what would amount to a bar code scanning each unit.