Railcar Type form

Configuration Carriers Railcar Types Railcar Types view Railcar Type form

The Railcar Type form enables you to add a new railcar type or edit an existing railcar type. You can use this form to manually add all the railcar types for your site, or you can use the Actions Copy Reference Set option to copy railcar types defined in an existing entity set.

To see how adding a railcar type fits into the rail process flow, see the Full Rail Operations (on page 1) and Lite Rail Operations (on page 1) process flows.

To add a railcar type:

In the ID field, enter an ID that uniquely identifies the railcar type.

For Class, select either:

Flat car
Box car (for transporting loose cargo)
Autorack (for finished automobiles)
Tankcar (for compressed or liquid cargo).

For Car Type, you have the following options, depending on your Class selection.

Class	Car type
Flat Car	Trailer on flat car (TOFC): Only trailers can be loaded Container on flat car (COFC): Only containers can be loaded Convertible: Either trailers or containers can be loaded, based on the configuration of each platform. You can only use the Convertible flat car type for single-tier platforms. Bulkhead flat car - To transport commodities like structural steel, pipe, steel plate etc. Centerbeam flat car - To transport commodities like bundled building supplies, including lumber, wallboard and fence posts etc.
Box Car	Open top box car Covered box car Refrigerated box car
Autorack	No Option
Tank car	General Purpose tank car Pressurized tank car

Under the Intermodal Panel:

In the Max Tier Count field, enter the number of tiers the railcar can accommodate per platform, either 1 or 2.
In the Max 20' Count field, enter the maximum number of TEU that a railcar can hold. If this is left blank, it will default to 2.

Max Tier Count and Max 20' Count are required for the intermodal car types Trailer on Flat Car, Container on Flat Car, and Convertible, and they're disabled for Bulkhead and Centerbeam flat car.

Under the Cargo Panel:

Lot Type - Refers to the type of cargo
Quantified - For cargo that can be counted, either in bundles, packs, pallets, or any other type of cargo packaging.
Identified - Cargo has IDs, for example, for automobiles, which have VINs.
Bulk - Bulk, non-packaged cargo such as oil, grain, coal, etc.
Max Qty/Capacity: This is required if the Class is Autorack or Tank Car
Unit (of measurement): Required if Lot Type is Bulk

To add or edit platform information under the Platform tab , you must first save the railcar before you can add or edit platforms. Also, you can only add or edit platforms for railcars with the following car types:

Trailer on Flat Car
Container on Flat Car
Convertible
See Platforms tab (on page 1) for more information.

Enter any optional information for the railcar type.
Click Save.

After you save a railcar type, you can add information about the platforms for the railcar type.

The following table lists the optional fields in the Railcar Type form.

Field Label	Description
Description	Enter a short description of the railcar type.
Floor Height	Enter the floor height of the railcar type. N4 uses the cumulative height of the railcar and the stacked containers in the route restriction calculations. To enter measurement using a specific unit, type the standard unit symbol, such as cm (Centimeter), m (Meter), in (Inches), ft (Feet), or yd (Yard), immediately after the numeric value. For example, to specify the length in Meters, enter 50 m in the text field. The symbol for the default unit for a field is displayed as part of the field label.
Length	Enter the length of the railcar type. N4 uses this value to perform route restriction validations.
Tare Weight	Enter the tare weight for the railcar type. N4 uses the cumulative weight of the railcar and the stacked containers in the route restriction calculations. To enter weight using a specific unit, type the standard unit symbol, such as lb (pounds), mt (metric ton), lt (long ton), or st (short ton), immediately after the numeric value. For example, to specify weight in Pounds, enter 50000 lb in the text field. The symbol for the default unit for a field is displayed as part of the field label.
Safe Weight	Enter the maximum weight that a single-platform railcar type can safely hold. If defining a multi-platform railcar, leave this field blank, and instead define the 20' Max Weight or 40' Max Weight fields on the Platform form (on page 1). During the planning process, XPS warns when planned weight exceeds the safe weight. During the planning process, XPS warns you when the planned weight exceeds the safe weight with a red diamond.
Has High Side	Select this check box if the railcar type has high sides. Rail AutoStow uses this field to determine whether to plan High Cube (HQ) containers to the bottom tier of railcars that are based on this railcar type. If the high-sided railcar is: Two-tiered: Rail AutoStow does not plan High Cube (HQ) containers to the bottom tier of the railcar. Single-tiered: Rail AutoStow can plan High Cube (HQ) containers to the bottom tier of the railcar.
Car Type Alias	Enter the car type alias that can be used by planners in XPS.You can only view the car type alias in XPS if the XPS setting TRTKPA is set to Y. Use the car type alias to group many rail car types with an alias. Planners use the car type alias to plan tracks in XPS specifically in the pull plan view where the rail car alias is displayed against each rail car. See the Pull plan topic to see how this is used.