Ch. 3: Event Codes (The Transit Cycle)

Question 1

Event Code

Answer 1

tells what is happening to the railcar

Question 2

Primary event codes

Answer 2

• event codes that are generally expected to occur during a railcar’s trip
• W, X, P, A, J, R, D, Y, Z

Question 3

Secondary event codes

Answer 3

• event codes that are typically not expected to occur
• B, G, S, H

Question 4

W

Answer 4

• Release
• typically the first and last event code to be reported during a railcar’s trip
• railcar is available to be picked up by carrier
• the shipment process, or “cycle”, has been initiated for that shipment
• do not describe physical railcar movement

Question 5

X

Answer 5

• Pull
• being taken by carrier to be conjoined with rest of train
• first physical movement

Question 6

P

Answer 6

• Departure

Question 7

A

Answer 7

• Arrival

Question 8

J

Answer 8

• Interchange Delivered
• ready to be picked up by next carrier
• Does not guarantee that receiving carrier will pick up railcar

Question 9

R

Answer 9

• Junction Received
• Receiving carrier has picked up railcar at junction
• J and R codes do not always report in order

Question 10

D

Answer 10

• Destination Arrival
• railcar is nearing end of its trip
• does not signify the consignee has received shipment

Question 11

Y

Answer 11

• Constructive Placement
• don’t always get reported
• don’t always report at the same SPLC location as D or Z
• Key Takeaways
  
  • carrier is unable to deliver the railcar to the consignee facility due to a “closed gate” situation
  • carrier instead delivers the railcar to the carrier’s local serving yard and then notifies consignee
  • the consignee must then schedule a date/time for the carrier to deliver the rail car to the consignee’s facility when their gate is open

Question 12

Z

Answer 12

• Actual Placement
• carrier has physically delivered railcar to consignee facility
• doesn’t always get reported to feed
• doesn’t always report the same SPLC location as the D and Y

Question 13

B

Answer 13

• Bad Order
• secondary event code
• railcar has malfunctioned or has mechanical defect
• either repaired by carrier crewmen or diverted to a repair shop

Question 14

G

Answer 14

• Bad Order Release
• secondary event code
• indicates that a bad ordered railcar has now been repaired and cleared to resume transit on mainline track

Question 15

S

Answer 15

• Storage
• secondary event code
• railcar set aside at a railyard for variety of reasons
  
  • most common: client has loaded the car with product but has yet to find a customer to purchase product
• certain routes report S in place of Y

Question 16

H

Answer 16

• Hold
• indicates a hold has been placed on car
• wide variety of reasons (similar to S)
• examples: mechanical inspections, weight restrictions, lack of or modifications to shipping instructions

Question 17

Fleet Cars

Answer 17

• have 2nd leg empty return to origin facility
• owned by QTS customers

Question 18

Non-fleet cars

Answer 18

• comprise majority of cars tracked by QTS
• given by carrier to be used for single shipment
• no 2nd empty return trip
• owned and maintained by carriers

Question 19

Demurrage

Answer 19

• time-based
• result of carrier waiting on QTS customer to perform a certain action within transit cycle
• QTS customer has been notified that their car has been CP, and charged for the amount of time it takes for them to schedule AP

Question 20

“No Bill” Charge

Answer 20

• carrier arrives at origin to pull car, but a BOL issue prevents them from pulling the car

Question 21

When it comes to demurrage and No Bill charges…

Answer 21

QTS’s job is to minimize those costs through effective tracking and reconciliation of BOL issues

Question 22

Origin Performance

Answer 22

performance metrics about (W, X, P)

Question 23

Destination Performance

Answer 23

performance metrics about (D, Y, Z)

Question 24

Performance refers to…

Answer 24

• the order in which the events occur (if they occur at all)
• the individual SPLC locations where each of the events occur
• the average time that elapses between each of the events