Solving Rail Freight Complexity: Introducing Rail Patterns from Princeton TMX

Rail shipping is one of the most efficient and sustainable modes of freight transport, but it’s also one of the most complex.

Unlike truckload shipments, which are relatively straightforward to plan and tender, rail shipments require a dense matrix of operational details before a single load can move. These include origin and destination station codes, routing instructions, carrier-specific handling requirements, and formatting nuances that vary not just by railroad, but often by shipment type.

And therein lies the problem: most shippers don’t have all that information readily available when creating a shipment.

The Real Cost of Missing Rail Data

When key routing data is missing or incorrect, the result is predictable:

• Rejected shipments
• Delays in load execution
• Manual rework that burns hours
• Over-reliance on a handful of internal “rail experts”
• Hidden costs in both time and labor

This “rail routing black box” becomes a bottleneck, especially for companies scaling rail operations, onboarding new employees, or working with limited logistics staff. Even seasoned shippers find themselves chasing down station codes or formatting nuances required by a specific carrier just to push a shipment through.

This is a data problem, and it needs a smarter solution.

Rail Patterns: Rail Routing Automation That Works for You

Patterns, the latest innovation from Princeton TMX, was designed to eliminate these pain points entirely.

Built directly into our transportation management system, Patterns automatically fills in the required routing and carrier data for rail shipments based on known behaviors and configured logic. The system leverages both:

• Historical shipment patterns, and
• Pre-built rules based on carrier, commodity, lane, and customer-specific requirements
  

All the user needs to provide is what they actually know: commodity, origin, and destination. Patterns fills in the rest:

• Rail carrier routing and station codes
• Special handling instructions
• Format-specific data fields for Class I compliance
• Validated route logic based on prior accepted shipments

No more guesswork. No more tribal knowledge. Just fast, accurate, compliant rail routing, automated and accurate.

How Rail Patterns Work

Let’s break it down:

1. Shipment Creation Begins
   A user creates a new rail shipment in Princeton TMX, entering the basic data they have: origin, destination, and commodity type.
   
   
2. Pattern Matching Engages
   As the user completes the form, the system checks for prior shipments with similar attributes or taps into configured business rules for that specific lane, customer, or carrier.
   
   
3. Routing and Station Codes Auto-Fill
   Based on the match, the system auto-populates the required fields, routing paths, station codes, handling requirements, all validated for accuracy.
   
   
4. Shipment Is Ready to Tender
   The user confirms the data and tenders the load. No delays. No rejections. No emails to the rail team. It’s done.

Rail Freight is Complex… But It Doesn’t Have to Be

Rail will always be more intricate than over-the-road shipping, but that doesn’t mean shippers should tolerate unnecessary friction, risk, or inefficiency. With Patterns, we’re eliminating the data bottlenecks that have long slowed down rail operations.

If you’re scaling rail shipping, dealing with high team turnover, or just tired of getting shipments kicked back because of bad routing data, Patterns was built for you.

Want to see it in action? Request a demo and see how Patterns can unlock new speed and accuracy in your rail operations.