We’ve extended our superior international intermodal rail visibility to domestic rail voyages, with some improvements focused exclusively on domestic operations.
You benefit from OpenTrack’s direct connections with all North American Class 1 rail carriers, plus full coverage of class 2 and 3 railroads.
How it works
At a high level, here’s how it works:
You put in the equipment number only (can be containerized or non-containerized railcars)
OpenTrack automatically discovers the waybill number and railroad
Then we get data directly from the relevant Class 1 railroad. If it’s with a class 2 or 3 carrier, we get data from traditional rail data aggregators
First Step: Start Tracking
You can track domestic rail containers in any of 3 ways:
Manually on the Start Tracking page
Via bulk upload or email processor
Via API
Tracking manually on the Start Tracking page
On the Start Tracking page, put your equipment number in the input box
Click Add
Sit back and watch as OpenTrack finds data on the current voyage
Tracking via bulk upload or email processor
On the Start Tracking page, go to Bulk Upload and download the bulk upload template
Only fill in the Container column
Upload the file and watch as OpenTrack finds your data
Alternatively, send an email to imports+tracking@opentrack.co
Tracking via API
Coming soon. Let us know if you’re interested in tracking via API.
Highlights
View your data in Explore
Just click Save to keep this report for future reference.
Filter to show only domestic containers using the Trade Type filter:
Remix, export, share, and set up notifications using all of Explore’s built-in reporting features.
See rail sightings and interchanges
Open any container and click the Rail Sightings tab to see all the container’s rail sightings, including full visibility of cross-carrier interchanges.
See full history
When you've clicked on an equipment number, go to the History tab to see its full history.
Containerized example
Here’s what the timeline of a containerized shipment might look like:
Non-containerized railcars
Or for a non-containerized railcar:
Get a filtered view of the Rail Dashboard
See your domestic rail arrivals and keep tabs on key exceptions all in one place by filtering the Rail Dashboard to show only domestic moves.
Takeaways
OpenTrack’s signature high-quality rail data, delivered automatically to you
Crucial milestones for domestic rail moves, both containerized and non-containerized railcars
Last Free Day, chassis number, availability notifications
Monitoring: Upcoming LFD, No sightings in 48 hours, Failed to Load
Direct connection with all North American Class 1 rail carriers and their partner programs (UMAX, etc), plus coverage of all class 2 and 3 railroads as well.
Full support of full and empty voyages.
Monitoring included
Alert | Description |
Delivery Appointment Risk | Be alerted about shipments that are likely to miss their delivery appointment. OpenTrack’s algorithm uses the latest ETA plus the average rail station dwell time to produce an estimate of appointment risk that puts your attention where it needs to be. |
No Sightings in 48 Hours | See which railcars have departed on rail but we haven't received an updated GPS location in more than 48 hours. |
Rail LFD Coming Soon | See all shipments with Last Free Day at Rail Facility within 48 hours (yesterday, today, and tomorrow). |
Failed To Load | See which containers have been sitting at the port for more than 2 days without being loaded. |
Rail Arrival Schedule | See the schedule of all railcars arriving this week. |
Final Terminal Dwell Time | See how long containers are dwelling at the final rail station before outgate, so you can keep better tabs on drayage operations. |
Street Dwell Time | See how long containers spend between outgate and empty return, so you can stay on top of Per Diem and drive down unnecessary fees. |
Origin Street Dwell Time (Coming soon) | See how long containers spend in origin drop pools, so you can drive faster turnarounds and keep your origin Per Diem as low as possible. |
Interchange Dwell Time (Coming soon) | See how long railcars are sitting at interchange stations to get a better view of what is causing delays on your key lanes. |
Data included
Data | Description |
RAIL SIGHTINGS | Granular GPS coordinates along the voyage of every railcar. |
DESTINATION RAILROAD | Railroad transporting the equipment to final rail facility |
CURRENT RAILROAD | The railroad currently transporting the equipment |
ORIGIN RAIL STATION | Rail station at origin |
FINAL RAIL STATION | Rail station at final destination |
LAST FREE DAY AT RAIL FACILITY | Last free day at final rail facility. This is the date by which the equipment should be picked up to avoid incurring demurrage fees. |
DETENTION LAST FREE DAY | Detention per diem last free day. The date by which the equipment should be returned to avoid detention per diem fees. |
RAIL ETD | Estimated time of departure on rail |
ETA TO FINAL RAIL FACILITY | ETA to final rail facility |
DEMURRAGE OWED AT FINAL RAIL FACILITY | Estimated or actual dollar amount of demurrage accrued at the final rail facility. |
CHASSIS NUMBER | The identifier of the chassis used to pull the container from the rail facility |
EQUIPMENT TYPE AND SIZE | Size and type of the equipment |
EQUIPMENT WEIGHT | Gross weight in KG |
Milestones | Description |
FULL/EMPTY INGATED TO RAIL FACILITY | Equipment ingated to departure ramp facility |
LOADED ON RAIL | Equipment placed on rail car to destination |
RELEASE FROM INDUSTRY | Equipment released to the rail carrier from a private rail spur |
DEPARTED ON RAIL | Equipment departed on rail to final destination |
ARRIVED AT RAIL FACILITY | Equipment arrival at final rail facility |
UNLOADED FROM RAIL | Equipment deramped from rail |
AVAILABLE AT RAIL FACILITY | Equipment was placed for release |
ACTUAL PLACEMENT | Equipment is ready for pickup |
FULL/EMPTY OUTGATED FROM RAIL FACILITY | Equipment outgated from final rail facility |
EMPTY RETURNED | Equipment was returned empty to carrier |
FAQ
How do you identify domestic rail equipment?
OpenTrack maintains a list of accepted equipment number SCACs that we use to identify equipment as domestic rail.
How do you handle long-term leased or shipper-owned equipment?
We have an optional setting that lets you tell OpenTrack “I want to track this railcar forever”, and OpenTrack will detect the end of each voyage. Then we'll automatically discover the new waybill and restart tracking of the new voyage.
Does OpenTrack cover both full and empty voyages?
Yes! About the same milestones apply in both cases. OpenTrack tracks both full and empty domestic rail voyages with the same high level of visibility.