FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 


CARY, NC, January 25, 2011 (James Street Media Services)—Railinc Corp. announced today that the new Damaged and Defective Car Tracking (DDCT) system was successfully launched and is now operational for rail carriers, freight car owners and freight car repair shops. Authorized users across the rail industry are now using the new tracking system to enter and respond to damaged and defective car incidents, effectively making the approximately 125-year-old paper defect card obsolete.

“The Railinc DDCT system represents several years of hard work and operational coordination from stakeholders across the rail industry,” said Allen West, CEO and president. “While the launch is an important milestone, we’ll continue to improve the system and return even more value to the rail industry over time.”

The Railinc DDCT system is a centralized, web-based application serving rail carriers, freight car owners and freight car repair shops. It eliminates the outdated 3½ x 8-inch paper defect cards and defect card brackets by automating the manual process for identifying and tracking damaged and defective rail cars. The primary purpose of the defect card was to aid in maintaining a record of identified defects on each car; of where the defects originated; and to determine the responsibility for such defects. The earliest use of the defect cards dates back to the late 1800s.

Rail industry interchange and car hire rules now require all rail carriers, car owners and repair shops to use the DDCT system. Reporting of all new incidents of damaged and defective cars began on January 5, 2011, the DDCT system’s official launch date. Anyone not currently active in the DDCT system is encouraged to make the necessary process changes within their organizations to accommodate revised industry rules regarding the damaged and defective car tracking process.

In preparation for the launch of the DDCT system, Railinc conducted 16 webinars with over 1,600 total participants; sent more than 56,000 individual communications; and presented at more than a dozen rail industry events.

About Railinc 

Railinc is the railroad industry’s innovative and reliable resource for IT and information services. The company builds applications and deploys data that help railroads, rail equipment owners and other industry participants manage their businesses more effectively and efficiently. Railinc is the largest, single source of real-time, accurate interline rail data for the North American railroad system. Located in Cary, N.C., Railinc is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Association of American Railroads. For more information, please visit www.railinc.com.

MEDIA CONTACT

Patrick O’Neil

Director of Corporate Communications

(919) 651-5193

Patrick.ONeil@railinc.com

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