Rail car tracking?

richtor

How does one track rail? I have a rail number.

Copied from an older post:

If you are going by rail, it’s more complicated…

First you will need the rail car letters and numbers. It is on the visibility report or DORA which is from the dealership. You MAY be able to get it from the SVT people but they seem often in a cranky mood and may tell you to get it from the dealer.

There are two major rail companies.

CSX is everything east of the mississippi
UP is everything west of the mississippi

But they all start out on CSX so once they have it in their system they will follow it all the way.

So, how do you track your truck on a railcar?

First and most important. Never talk to live personnel at the railroad! Only use automated phone system. If it attempts to transfer you to a live person please hang up. The railcar information we are provided by is given as a courtesy and if we call live personnel we may lose the access and ability to track.

CSX
1. Call the CSX 1-800-235-2352
2. When prompted for location or weight, press "1" on your phone for location.
3. When prompted for the car initials, say CN (or whatever initials you have) then wait for the next prompt.
4. When prompted for the car number, say 907048 (or whatever your number is)
5. When prompted for next car say DONE.
6. That's it; enjoy your updated status report.

Union Pacific
1. Call UP at 1 800 877-5123 1 800 877-5123
2. Follow phone prompts for Trace
3. Say the railcar number complete and clearly. Example CN123456 all together
4. Listen for your update

NS Norfolk Southern
1. Call 800-635-5768
2. Press 2.
3. Press 2.
4. Enter the letters on the numeric keypad then press #. As in: TTGX will be 8849
5. Enter the numbers then press #. It wasn't taking my voice prompts but typing worked. "

I should warn you though... I went down a rabbit hole tracking my rail car for days, only to have it arrive at an industry terminal (I'm guessing where they will eventually put it on a truck to my dealership) last Friday, then sit there with no update. Fair warning, rail cars make a lot more stops, for longer periods of times than I had assumed. HA. Good luck.

Skip

I should warn you though... I went down a rabbit hole tracking my rail car for days, only to have it arrive at an industry terminal (I'm guessing where they will eventually put it on a truck to my dealership) last Friday, then sit there with no update. Fair warning, rail cars make a lot more stops, for longer periods of times than I had assumed. HA. Good luck.

Thanks. I ordered my 250 Tremor summer of 2020. Spent 10/11 days on rail. Got the rail yard on Saturday. Sat their until wed afternoon before it was delivered. Picked it up Thursday.

rail yards have thousands of vehicles. I would not want that job. Haha.

My Bronco is in AZ. Probably 2/3 more days before it hits Benicia rail yard. 3-5 days after that delivery eta. Late next week. It’s all good: ))

I tracked my rail car last weekend after I got my rail car info from my dealership. It worked well and although it was already in my home state of Florida when I started I knew it was in Baldwin, FL on Saturday morning as of 7:58am and then on Saturday left and arrived in Tampa, FL (final destination) at 1:52pm. Now it just needs to be picked up by car carrier and delivered to the dealership, hope in the next day or two.

Skip

Copied from an older post:

If you are going by rail, it’s more complicated…

First you will need the rail car letters and numbers. It is on the visibility report or DORA which is from the dealership. You MAY be able to get it from the SVT people but they seem often in a cranky mood and may tell you to get it from the dealer.

There are two major rail companies.

CSX is everything east of the mississippi
UP is everything west of the mississippi

But they all start out on CSX so once they have it in their system they will follow it all the way.

So, how do you track your truck on a railcar?

First and most important. Never talk to live personnel at the railroad! Only use automated phone system. If it attempts to transfer you to a live person please hang up. The railcar information we are provided by is given as a courtesy and if we call live personnel we may lose the access and ability to track.

CSX
1. Call the CSX 1-800-235-2352
2. When prompted for location or weight, press "1" on your phone for location.
3. When prompted for the car initials, say CN (or whatever initials you have) then wait for the next prompt.
4. When prompted for the car number, say 907048 (or whatever your number is)
5. When prompted for next car say DONE.
6. That's it; enjoy your updated status report.

Union Pacific
1. Call UP at 1 800 877-5123 1 800 877-5123
2. Follow phone prompts for Trace
3. Say the railcar number complete and clearly. Example CN123456 all together
4. Listen for your update

NS Norfolk Southern
1. Call 800-635-5768
2. Press 2.
3. Press 2.
4. Enter the letters on the numeric keypad then press #. As in: TTGX will be 8849
5. Enter the numbers then press #. It wasn't taking my voice prompts but typing worked. "

After searching through many threads I think I found the car initials and shipping number on the window sticker. The car has shipped but when I call CSX it says there is no information. It has been a while since it shipped.

Is the number I’m using I correct? Or is it only from the DORA that I get the correct number?

Brichards247

After searching through many threads I think I found the car initials and shipping number on the window sticker. The car has shipped but when I call CSX it says there is no information. It has been a while since it shipped.

Is the number I’m using I correct? Or is it only from the DORA that I get the correct number?

You get rail car number from your dealer. The window sticker is produced way before it’s put on a rail car.

My Bronco was put on a rail car 1-18-2024 and that’s the only info that I can get from the dealer. A Ford Regional Rep was contacted 4 days ago to find the vehicle and nothing yet.

Havasu51

My Bronco was put on a rail car 1-18-2024 and that’s the only info that I can get from the dealer. A Ford Regional Rep was contacted 4 days ago to find the vehicle and nothing yet.

If you have your rail car information call the CSX number and follow the steps. Never ask to talk to a live person, automated only. If you don’t have the number call your dealership sales manager and ask for your rail car number from the DORA sheet they have. Or call the Bronco help line and ask for it.

Thanks for your reply. I spoke to my dealer today and his Dora sheet was dated before the vehicle was released from the factory. There hasn’t been any updates on the vehicle since it was staged at the rail yard. He has been talking to his reps and hasn’t got any updates.