RMI, the largest independent provider of accurate, reliable, comprehensive and secure rail information services to the transportation industry, today announced 200 railroads have deployed the RailConnect(R) Transportation Management Services (TMS) for the operational management of their railroads.
In addition to being the 200th railroad to implement TMS, Idaho Northern & Pacific Railroad Company (INPR) joins a group of 36 new railroads added to the RailConnect TMS family in 2003.
INPR, which is part of the Rio Grande Pacific Corporation, a Ft. Worth-based short line holding company, operates 210 miles of railroad in Idaho and northeast Oregon, hauling forest and timber products, chemicals and agricultural products. In addition to converting INPR to RMI's web-based solution from its previous PC-based system, the company also decided to convert three other properties to RailConnect TMS. This will provide Rio Grande Pacific with a network-centric platform for rail operations that will provide users and managers at the corporate office and other locations to have access to critical operating information from any of the railroads on 24 by 7 basis.
"We are honored that railroads and shippers continue to recognize RMI's knowledge and expertise of rail transportation," said Paul Pascutti, vice president of marketing for RMI. "Now more than ever, our customers rely on the comprehensive capabilities of the RailConnect suite of services to help them gain greater financial and operational control over their businesses.
RMI's RailConnect is a suite of proprietary, integrated applications that enable railroads to manage their business on a day-to-day basis, provide a higher level of customer service and better communicate with other railroads and transportation companies. The TMS service provides carriers with functions such as yard and inventory control, train operations, EDI, work orders and operational management reports.
INPR's installation as the 200th RailConnect TMS user came almost 10 years to the day after the Buffalo & Pittsburgh Railroad (BPRR) became RMI's first processing client in November of 1993. BPRR, part of the Genesee & Wyoming (GWI) family of railroads, broke new ground at that time by outsourcing the hosting and IT support of their primary transportation system to RMI. This move began a paradigm shift for RMI and its customers, and it gave birth to what is now the RailConnet suite of services.
"Railroads are quickly realizing the potential and rewards of what we call the "Paperless Railroad" says Pascutti. "RMI provides a practical and cost-effective solution to outsourcing many of the manual, paper-driven processes, so that short line and regional railroads can effectively compete and provide value-add services to their customers."
