OMAHA, Neb. – Union Pacific has joined the RailPulse joint venture that will provide customers with real-time location information for freight cars wherever they are on the North American rail network.
UP becomes the second Class I railroad to participate in RailPulse, alongside founding member Norfolk Southern. The company’s other partners include shortline holding companies Genesee & Wyoming and Watco, railcar leasing company GATX, as well as railcar manufacturers and leasers TrinityRail and Greenbrier. Combined, they own nearly 30% of the North American railcar fleet.
“Today we’re announcing our collaboration with RailPulse, a coalition of rail car owners who are working together to accelerate the adoption of GPS and other telematic technologies across the North American rail network,” Kenny Rocker, UP’s executive vice president of marketing and sales, told an investor conference on Tuesday. “The goal is to provide real time information and sustained visibility of a railcar’s status, location, and condition to customers, shippers, railcar owners, and railroads.”
The increased visibility will improve safety, efficiency, and ultimately the customer experience, which Rocker says may attract more shipments to rail.
“The Board of RailPulse is very excited to welcome Union Pacific to RailPulse,” Mike McClellan, senior vice president and chief strategy officer at Norfolk Southern, said in a statement. “Interest in RailPulse and the coalition’s mission continues to grow. Adding Union Pacific to our ownership ranks demonstrates the strategic appeal of the transformative technology that RailPulse is pursuing for the betterment of all participants in the rail ecosystem: shippers, builders, railcar owners and the railroads.”
RailPulse is expected to launch in the second quarter of 2023. Member companies are currently conducting trials with various monitoring equipment.
The system will use GPS-based telematics equipment on each car to monitor their health and locations in real time. The location and health status data will be available through an online portal that will allow customers to monitor their cars anywhere on the network.
Rail shippers currently lack consistent end-to-end visibility as their cars move across the system, particularly for interchange moves. The location information, RailPulse participants say, varies from railroad to railroad and from region to region, which forces customers to “chase their loads” through different railroad or third-party systems.
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