Release Railcars - Input

What is this?

Release Railcars allows you to release empty and loaded railcars to CN. All railcars that are on-site at your location will be displayed. Note that cars appearing without a Sequence number may not yet have arrived on-site.

To release a railcar, select the switch date/time when you would like CN to pull the railcar. Then, specify the new load/empty status using the Empty and Load checkboxes that appear next to each railcar and, if applicable, indicate the Special Release Type.

Once you have selected the railcars to be released, press Submit to send your request to CN.

Note: The first time that you access Release Railcars, you will be automatically directed to the Customized Station List page to select the stations where you will release railcars. From the Customized Station List page, you can drill down to select the tracks you would like to see for each selection station.

Releasing Empty Railcars

To release a railcar that has been unloaded, select the Empty checkbox next to the car that you want to release. You can select all cars placed for unloading for empty release by clicking the All button in the Empty column heading. Once all desired railcars have been selected for release, press Submit to complete your request.

If you are releasing an empty car that contains dangerous or hazardous residue, please read Releasing Dangerous Goods / Hazardous Materials.

To release a railcar that has been unloaded but is defective (in bad order), or to reject an empty railcar that was placed for loading, select the Empty checkbox next to the car that you want to release and select the appropriate defect from the Special Release Type picklist. After selecting the defect, a text area will be displayed where you can, optionally, provide a description of what is wrong with the railcar. Please enter any details that could help CN's Mechanical team diagnose the problem.

No Special Release Type needs to be selected when releasing an empty railcar for switch to another rail carrier at origin.

Releasing Loaded Railcars

To release a railcar that has been loaded, select the Load checkbox next to the car that you want to release. You can select all cars placed for loading for loaded release by clicking the All button in the Load column heading. Once all desired railcars have been selected for release, press Submit to complete your request.

To release a loaded railcar using Release Railcars, shipping instructions must first have been received by CN. An alternative to using Release Railcars is to provide CN with the release date/time in your shipping instructions.

If you attempt to release a loaded railcar without having first supplied the shipping instructions to CN, your request will be rejected with message "Unable to release CAR 1234. Shipping instructions must be submitted to CN prior to releasing this car.". Clicking on the car initials and numbers in the error message will hilight the row where the error occurred.

If you are releasing a loaded car that contains dangerous goods or hazardous materials, please read Releasing Dangerous Goods / Hazardous Materials.

If you will reload a railcar, release it as an empty with Special Release Type 'Release-I Will Reload This Car' as soon as it has been unloaded. Then, once you have reloaded the railcar you can select the Load checkbox to release it as a new load.
Important: Before reloading a railcar, always confirm with your Customer Support Representative that you are eligible to reload the railcar in question.

Loaded railcars being released for switch to another rail carrier at origin must be released by selecting the appropriate Special Release Type - picklist options will be made available based upon your historical shipping trends, such as 'Switch to connecting carrier' or 'Switch to <road> at <interchange>'. Select the picklist value that accurately reflects the shipment being released to CN.

Release of railcars for switch to another rail carrier at origin does not require that you submit Shipping Instructions to CN. However, before releasing the railcar you should have already supplied shipping instructions to the roadhaul carrier.

Releasing Dangerous Goods / Hazardous Materials

Any railcar containing dangerous goods or hazardous materials, including residue, must be accompanied by the proper documentation. Shipping instructions must be provided to CN prior to releasing any shipment that contains, or last contained, dangerous goods or hazardous materials, including residue. You will not be able to release these railcars until shipping instructions have been received by CN.

Railcars containing dangerous goods or hazardous materials, including residue, will appear on the Release Railcars page with the car initials and numbers in red.

Cleaned / Purged Cars

Cars that have been cleaned and purged of all dangerous goods or hazardous materials can be released without shipping instructions by specifying "Non-dangerous release. Car has been cleaned/purged." from the Special Release picklist.

Last Contained Asphalt

Cars that last contained asphalt can be released without shipping instructions, providing placards have been removed from the railcar.

To release a railcar that last contained asphalt, for which placards have been removed, specify "Non-dangerous release. Placards have been removed." from the Special Release picklist.

Railcars that Cannot be Released Online

The following railcars cannot be released using Release Railcars. No release Empty or release Load checkboxes will be available for these railcars.

Scenario	Description
Bad Ordered Railcar	Railcars that are bad ordered, and not safe to move, cannot be released using Release Railcars. Bad ordered railcars that are not safe to move will appear in your cars list with the message "Car is bad ordered. Contact your CSR to release this car.".
Railcar On Hold	Railcars that are on hold cannot be released using Release Railcars. Railcars on hold will appear in your cars list with the message "Car is on hold. Contact your CSR to release this car.".
Restricted Dimensional Load	Railcars carrying a restricted dimensional load cannot be released using Release Railcars. Restricted dimensional loads will appear in your cars list with the message "Dimensional load. Contact your CSR to release this car.".

Please contact your Customer Support Representative to release these railcars.

Information Available

Feature	Description
Company	Allows you to select the company for which you will release railcars. All companies attached to your profile will be available for selection. If a company is missing from your list of companies, please contact the eBusiness Support Team at 1-800-361-0198 or ebusiness@cn.ca.
Location	Allows you to select the location where you want to release railcars. All locations in your Customized Station List will be shown for the selected company.
Go	Shows you the list of cars for the selected Company and Location.
Update	Allows you to update your personal list of locations and tracks where you would like to release railcars. This will launch the Customized Station List , where you can add or remove locations and also select the tracks you want to see at each location. By default, all tracks are selected for each location that is part of your customized station list.
Customize Columns	Directs you to the Customize Data Elements page where you can customize the columns that appear in Release Railcars.
Print	Print the page. Depending on the number of columns you have selected, you may need to adjust your printer settings to print landscape mode.
Help	View help for Release Railcars.
Selected Company	The company that was selected before pressing Go.
Selected Location	The location that was selected before pressing Go.
Tracks Summary	A list of all tracks in your Customized Track List for the selected company and location. Each track is a link that allows you to jump to that specific track on the page without having to scroll.
Search Car	Allows you to search for a specific car on the page. Enter the car initials and numbers in the search box and press Search. If found, the car initials and numbers will be hilighted.
Track	CN track identifier (zone-track), track name, and direction.
Switch Date/Time (and Cutoff)	The switch date/time corresponds to the date/time that CN can arrange pickup of your released railcars. If you have only one switch date/time available, you will not need to make any selection. The switch date/time will be displayed. If there is more than one switch date/time available, select the appropriate switch from the picklist that is displayed. By default, the next available switch is selected. If you have no scheduled service, your cars will be picked up by CN at the next available time. Please ensure that all released railcars are ready to be pulled by the start of the selected switch. In the event a car released to CN is not available at the time of pull due to any reason attributable to the shipper, a supplemental services charge will apply. Please see tariff CN 9000, item 3010 for details. The cutoff represents the time when you can no longer release a railcar for the switch date/time shown.
Seq	Sequence of the car on the track.
Car	The initials and numbers of the car.
Load / Empty	The current load/empty status of the car.
Customized Columns	Any columns that you have selected in the Customize Data Elements utility will be shown here.
Empty	Select the empty checkbox to release an empty car to CN.
Empty (All)	Automatically selects all the empty checkboxes for cars placed loaded, for unloading.
Load	Select the load checkbox to release a loaded car to CN.
Load (All)	Automatically selects all the load checkboxes for cars placed empty, for loading.
Special Release	Allows you to indicate that a special release is required. View available Special Release types.
Defect Detail	If you are releasing a car that is defective (identified using the Special Release picklist), you can enter details that describe the defect (optional).
E-mail a copy...	Select the 'E-mail a copy of this request to...' checkbox to receive a confirmation of your release by e-mail. If your e-mail address shown is incorrect, you can change it using Update My Profile from the Velocity main menu.
Update Recipients	Lets you cc your release confirmation to other e-mail addresses.
Submit	Submits the release request. Please verify that all information is correct before pressing Submit.
Cancel	Allows you to Cancel your request without submitting any information to CN.

Mandatory fields on the Release Railcars page are indicated with an asterisk ( * ).