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Each year, Railinc works closely with the AAR's Railinc Committee and various AAR committees to identify programs that will ensure the highest value from industry investments. In 2027, Railinc is working on projects associated with Asset Health, Asset Utilization and Interline.

Asset Health

  • MID Platform (Phase 2) - This project will deliver a technology platform to support the AAR Mechanical Inspection Department (MID) program, including MID field inspectors, MxV Rail and AAR personnel managing related workflows and data management, and additional industry stakeholders requiring visibility to inspection results and trends.

  • Detector Quality Monitoring (DQM) Refinement - This project will further refine data quality efforts in the Detector Quality Monitoring (DQM) program to ensure accurate, consistent, and actionable metrics are established to support detector owners in the management of their network and enhance site-level monitoring to improve visibility and rapid response processes.

  • Electronic Air Brake Slip (eABS) Integration and Adoption - This project will define and implement key data quality metrics (accuracy, completeness, coverage, and timeliness) to identify and address gaps in eABS integration and adoption in support of regulatory modernization efforts.

  • Mechanical Defect (MD) Data Integration - This project will provide the ability to analyze submission trends, inspection findings, and usage patterns directly through the MD application, improving visibility to mechanical defect reporting and industry-wide equipment health by including additional relevant data from Repair Billing and Component Registry.

  • Detector Validation Expansion - This project will expand the streamlined detector validation and onboarding process developed in 2025 for Acoustic Bearing Detectors (ABDs) to additional WABL-approved detector types, such as HBD, WILD and WPD detectors. This work will strengthen data accuracy and actionability across all detector systems, reducing the risk of missed or suppressed alerts once validation is complete.

  • Detector Self-Service (Onboarding, Recalibration and Alert Analysis) - This project will enhance the capabilities of the Equipment Health Management System (EHMS) to enable more efficient onboarding, and recalibration and alert analysis of individual detector sites with user-driven capabilities that allow detector deployments to be completed more efficiently and with greater reliability.

  • Equipment Advisory (EA) Location-on-Car and Self-Service - This project will enable Equipment Advisories to include location-specific details at the car-level, expand inspection reporting capabilities in the Equipment Advisory (EA) application, and support enhanced user-driven queries.

  • Railcar Reliability Measures - This project will establish a unified, data‑driven method to measure the reliability of individual railcars across the North American network, building upon the Equipment Health View (EHV) concept to provide a railcar reliability assessment that integrates detector data, inspection history, and customizable railroad criteria to generate a standardized, actionable set of information and recommendations.

  • Car Repair Billing (CRB) Price Master Process Rewrite (Phase 2) - This project is a continuation of the Car Repair Billing (CRB) Price Master Material Survey Re-Write project (Phase 1) underway in 2026. This second phase of the project will deliver key improvements to the CRB system, ensuring accurate, up-to-date pricing is published via the CRB Price Master.

  • Study: Car Repair Billing (CRB) Data Exchange Rewrite - This project will assess the workflows, capabilities, and limitations of the current Car Repair Billing (CRB) Data Exchange (DX) system to inform a system rewrite that will extend the CRB application’s useful life, enable feature expansion, and provide more transparency, resiliency, reliability, and value for the industry.

  • Component Registry: Tank Car Components – Loading & Unloading Valves - This project will add Loading and Unloading Valves to the Component Registry, increasing visibility into more Tank Car specific components for research and recall scenarios supporting industry safety initiatives.

  • Conditionally-Approved Component Tracking and Usage System (CACTUS) Value Expansion - This project will raise awareness of the Conditionally-Approved Component Tracking and Usage System (CACTUS) and expand its capabilities and features. These improvements will simplify user onboarding for CACTUS, expand the utility of the application for the manufacturer, and improve the interconnectivity between CACTUS, Equipment Advisory (EA), and Car Repair Billing (CRB) applications.

Asset Utilization

  • Car Hire Data Exchange (CHDX) Modernization Continued - This project will introduce enhancements to the CHDX application by updating error and warning messages and modifying and how CHDX receives and delivers data to participants. Modernizing CHDX will provide greater, enhanced visibility into the data exchanged between owners and railroads, allowing customers to transfer CHDX data via cloud-to-cloud integration.

  • Car Hire Rate Negotiation Improvements - This project will evaluate and introduce enhancements to support Car Hire Rate Negotiation processes, with a focus on increasing industry participation in deprescription and improving associated workflows and data exchange requirements (e.g., FindUs.Rail contact data). The initiative will aim to streamline negotiation processes, improve data visibility, and reduce friction for industry participants.

  • DDCT and LCS Process Enhancements - This project will evaluate and introduce enhancements to Damaged and Defective Car Tracking (DDCT) and related Liability Continuity System (LCS) processes to better support damaged or defective railcars loaded on conveying flatcars moving under AAR Rule 107 and 108. The initiative will also assess and potentially remove legacy LCS code logic associated with intermodal equipment moving under OT-36, which is currently under review for retirement. These enhancements aim to improve process accuracy, streamline workflows, and align systems with current and evolving industry rules.

  • Original Cost Self-Service (OCSS) Compliance Alerts and Document Enforcement - This project will evaluate and introduce enhancements to support compliance with OCSS supporting document requirements, including alert messaging and potential enforcement mechanisms (e.g., zero-rating Appurtenances) when documentation is not submitted within defined timeframes. The initiative will aim to improve compliance, increase visibility into outstanding requirements, and reduce downstream processing impacts.

Interline

  • AAR Embargo/OPSL Note and Permit System Automatic Approval & Permit Management Enhancements - This project will enhance the visibility of Embargo 824 permit information and hold notifications, improve the mobile device user interface to optimize administrative processes, and enhance various application features as identified by the Embargo Application Task Force, ultimately driving greater operational efficiency.

  • Interline Operations Research Tool Phase 2 - There is an opportunity to enhance the Interline Operations Research tool by expanding the visibility and usability of waybill data and operational constraints. By surfacing more comprehensive waybill details, embargo hold notices, and consist information, along with actionable resolution guidance, teams will be able to more quickly identify issues, understand root causes, and take informed corrective action, reducing delays and improving interline operational efficiency.

  • RSF and SCRS Enhancement - This project will implement targeted enhancements to the Rail Service Finder (RSF) and Serving Carrier Reciprocal Switch (SCRS) to improve data quality, streamline workflows, and enhance user experience. The project aims to strengthen data accuracy and synchronization across the systems and introduce clearer, more intuitive interactions for railroads and shippers.

  • Waybill Data Accuracy Improvements - This project aims to improve the accuracy and reliability of waybill data by identifying and addressing reference data quality issues across Railinc applications. The effort will define actionable data quality measures, produce a monthly scorecard, and drive targeted improvements to industry reference data. It will also prioritize areas where Railinc can clean, enhance, or correct reference data (e.g., CIF) without carrier or customer involvement. These improvements support industry modernization, increase operational efficiency, and enable future enhancements such as API-based waybill communication.