BNSF Railway has released two new online tools that offer an easier, more effective way for existing and potential customers to compare carload shipping options. The new tools—Carload Shipping Advisor and Serving Carrier Reciprocal Switch Inquiry—allow customers to compare shipping options by price, equipment, and route for multiple origins and destinations.
“All of the features in the Carload Shipping Advisor tool are based on direct customer feedback and designed to meet customer needs,” says John Lanigan, BNSF executive vice president and chief marketing officer. “We are confident that providing this upfront visibility to all routing options will save our carload customers time and allow them to more easily plan their shipments.”
“Whether planning or pricing their shipment moves, our customers told us that determining if a destination is rail-served is their first step,” according to Jo-ann Olsovsky, vice president technology services and CIO. “The new Carload Shipping Advisor and Reciprocal Switch Inquiry allow customers to quickly take that first step by easily verifying whether a shipping origination or destination has rail or transload service.”
The new Carload Shipping Advisor tool offers search filters by equipment type or route, and guides to equipment information, including pictures and schematics, to help customers understand the loading requirements and better plan their moves. It also includes features such as the ability to view recent searches, see estimated fuel surcharge, use a type-ahead input form, print/export/email search results, contact a sales representative, and view links to pricing documents.
When planning a shipment, the Reciprocal Switch Inquiry tool now allows customers to validate origins or destinations when not pricing the move. Using a railroad industry-wide file through Railinc, the new tool will now contain all rail-served customer locations in North America. This provides customers with comprehensive visibility to their options. Both of these tools can be accessed under “Customer Tools” on the bnsf.com Customer page at www.bnsf.com/customers. A demo of the tools capabilities can be viewed at www.bnsf.com/customers/demos/carloadshipping-scrsinquiry.html.
BNSF Railway is one of North America’s leading freight transportation companies operating on 32,000 route miles of track in 28 states and two Canadian provinces. BNSF and its employees have developed one of the most technologically advanced and efficient railroads in the industry. Learn more at www.bnsf.com.
