Successfully creating, editing, pre-registering and registering your rail equipment within UMLER will ensure that your fleet moves in interchange service.
Julie Mink
Similar to the license plates of an automobile, AEI (Automatic Equipment Identification) tags and railcar reporting marks are identification markers for railcars and locomotives within the rail industry. As required by industry regulations, any railcar moving in railroad interchange service must be stenciled and have a current and valid AEI tag with a current railcar mark (alpha character) and railcar number (numerical character) before such railcar can be accepted into railroad interchange service. Furthermore, such railcar mark and number must be registered with Railinc’s UMLER (Universal Machine Language Equipment Register). UMLER, further defined as a computer readable file of vital statistics for each railroad car in service, is the repository of registration for all railcars in the North American rail system. UMLER records hold important data regarding each individual railcar including car specifications such as length, height and weight and UMLER also holds information regarding the car owner and lessee. Information within UMLER allows railroads to track railcars, route them correctly and provides maintenance / repair shops with contact information for a responsible party in the event of an emergency, accident and billable repair fees.
The Association of American Railroads, Railinc subsidiary, holds this repository of information. There are approximately 1.3 million freight railcars in service in the U.S. and an additional ~300,000 in Canada and Mexico all sharing the same UMLER registration system. Freight railcars are constantly being bought and sold or leased to different entities all requiring registration in UMLER to preserve their ownership or control identity. There are three states of car status within Railinc UMLER. They are:
1) Pre-Registered: A railcar has been registered within UMLER under new marks but has not yet moved by an AEI tag reader thus registering it within UMLER
2) Inactive: A railcar has either been restenciled and the old railcar mark is no longer active or the equipment has not moved in interchange and has not been recognized as active
3) Active: A car has moved in interchange service and is recognized by UMLER as being active within the system
To register a freight railcar in UMLER, one has to create an UMLER record or complete an UMLER transfer. This process is similar to registering an automobile except you’ll most likely end up doing it yourself. Given that most railcars within the waste industry are typically purchased from another party where they are considered active, our focus herein reflects record changes regarding a record transfer. To assist our readers we’ve put together the following tutorial focused on transferring a record within UMLER.
Customer Service Tutorial on Railinc—UMLER transfer
Below are step-by-step screenshots of how to transfer ownership of railcars with Railinc’s Umler system. Access to Railinc UMLER/ EMIS can be granted through Railinc at (877) 724-5462.
Step 1: Enter Your Railinc Launch Pad and Select UMLER
Step 2: Under the “Account Administration” Tab, Select “Security Management”
Step 3: Within the Security Management Screen, Select “Manage Inter-Company Access Rights Granted to My Company”
Step 4: Select the Access Rights for the Group of Cars You Need to Modify and Click “View”
Step 5: Accept the “View Confidential Rights” or Other Rights Granted to You
Step 6: Assign the “View Confidential Rights” to Yourself or Someone Within Your Company.
Step 7: Accept the “Equipment” Rights Granted to You
Step 8: Assign the “Equipment” Rights Granted to You to Yourself or Someone Within Your Company
*Due to the confidential nature of this step, we do not have a photo to share; however, it is important to complete each step in succession to ensure that the transfer is completed correctly.
Step 9: Within the Security Management screen, select “Manage Intra-Company User Access Rights”
Step 10: Select the access rights for the group of cars you need to modify and click “Select”
STEP 11: Complete the form by adding in a “Description”, “Effective Date” (typically today), “Expiration Date”, “Range of Equipment” and finally select all under “Type of Access”. When complete, select “Save”. When complete you will receive a success message.
Once you have accepted the rights, you can restencil the railcars within UMLER. Now you are ready to complete the UMLER transfer.
Step 12: Within the Umler Screen, Select the “Maintenance” Tab, “Add/Change/Delete>”, “Single or Multiple Restencil” (for Multiple Railcars, Select “Multiple Restencil”)
Step 13: Enter the Current Railcars in the “*Source Equipment ID(s):” and the New Railcars in to the “*Target Equipment ID(s) start or range:” and Click “Validate”. If Railinc Response Validates the Change, Click “Submit”.
Your UMLER transfer should now be complete.
Registering Your Equipment Successfully
Registering a railcar within UMLER is essential to ensure that the railroad will accept the railcar into interchange. In the event you load a railcar with waste material and set the car out for interchange, your servicing railroad carrier will be unable to pull your railcars into service until the UMLER record has been successfully registered. Successfully creating, editing, pre-registering and registering your rail equipment within UMLER will ensure that your fleet moves in interchange service. It’s also equally important that once a railcar has been sold or leased to a party outside of your own company, such record is transferred and old inactive records are deleted from UMLER.
Julie Mink is Vice President of Tealinc, Ltd. (Forsyth, MT) and is located in the Elizabeth, CO office. Julie’s career includes positions as Vice President Marketing and Administration and Manager Value Creation. Julie’s tenor at Tealinc has spanned strategic and financial planning, project management, direct customer sales and customer support, development, refinement and installation of the e-commerce program, formulation and execution of marketing strategies and development and refinement of the company’s extensive market database. Julie has eight years of direct experience creating value for Tealinc customers. Julie’s attention to detail and concern for the customer are key assets to Tealinc success. She can be reached at (720) 733-9922 or [email protected].
For more information, contact Railinc at [email protected]