FOREST PRODUCTS SHIPPERS
Rail Network Intelligence for Forest Products
Control costs, unlock profit opportunities, and make better decisions with a complete picture of your rail supply chain.
RailState for Forest Products Shippers
Most forest products shippers struggle with unpredictable rail service and car shortages. Limited visibility beyond your own railcars hampers planning when timing and delivery reliability directly impact customer satisfaction.
RailState provides rail network intelligence that empowers you to control your empty car pipeline and cut operational waste. Our network-wide data gives you the insights needed to capture market intelligence, strengthen carrier relationships, and keep products moving efficiently.
Take Control of Your Empty Car Pipeline
You can’t afford to wait on promised cars that never arrive or not know you’ll have no supply in a few days.
Early visibility of inbound empties, accurate arrival predictions, and timely alerts, gives your teams the foresight to plan with confidence.
- Clear visibility to your inbound supply allows advanced planning and eliminates last-minute surprises
- Early warning of regional car shortages or surpluses enables proactive adjustments to avoid disruptions
- Full network insights show you where all the empties are and who they’re going to
De-Risk Your First & Last Mile
Waiting and guessing when railcars will show up wastes time and money. Last minute scrambles and extended shifts put your team’s safety and trust at risk.
RailState network sensors located in the gaps in your CLM reporting give you the right visibility to know when your cars will actually arrive. Stop guessing and start planning with confidence.
- Accurate ETAs for train arrivals let you organize crews with precision
- Get instant alerts when trains are delayed or fail to pass a waypoint on the way to your facility
- Eliminate idle time and burned shifts at loading and unloading sites
Verify Car Delivery Automatically
Railcars can be delivered to the wrong place, arrive damaged, or out of compliance. Manual checks and potential penalties mean the costs pile up.
A dedicated RailState sensor at your gate automatically logs each railcar’s arrival (or departure), giving you indisputable proof of every movement.
- Eliminate manual checks with automatic confirmation delivered to your inbox or to your other systems by API
- Photo evidence of each railcar to instantly verify condition, car ID, placement, and compliance
- Data-backed delivery times eliminate billing and demurrage disputes with the railroad
Collaborate with Carriers for Win-Win Solutions
When service issues arise, it’s easy to get frustrated and blame the railroad. Lack of transparency makes it hard to get to the truth, so conflicts drag on with little improvement.
Full network visibility gives you the facts to turn frustration into productive dialogue. By understanding exactly where and why delays occur, you can approach your rail partners with data-driven suggestions. Instead of complaints, you’ll bring solutions.
- Holistic network visibility reveals if delays stem from congestion, priority decisions, or specific bottlenecks
- Data-driven discussions help you pinpoint issues and work with railroads on targeted fixes
- Win-win solutions improve railroad operations and secure more reliable service for your shipments
Harness Immediate Market Intelligence
You have some data on what’s happening with your own shipments. Beyond that, you’re mostly in the dark.
RailState’s rail network data delivers reliable, context-rich insights in one place to shine a light on what’s really happening in your market. Better Insights = Better Decisions.
- Immediate insights to commodity flows anywhere on the network
- Detailed metrics on any route to explore new market opportunities
- Benchmark performance against competitors and other industries with network-wide and route-specific metrics for speed, volume, and reliability
Why work with RailState?
Track Record
Our team has more than one hundred years of collective experience working in the rail industry. For more than 5 years we’ve provided federal, state, and provincial agencies across North America with access to the best source of rail network data, which is now based on more than 4.5 billion images of trains moving on the network.
Easily Integrated
We connect quickly into your existing tools and workflows. Either through an easy-to-use web interface accessible from any browser or direct connection through our API, which some experienced data analysts have described as “a dream to use.”
Fast Deployment
If we have coverage in your area, you can get data access right away. If we don’t have coverage in your area yet, we can be up and running fast. New sensors can be installed and providing you rail network data in less than 4 weeks.
Reliability
RailState sensors have been battle-tested in the field for years and consistently performing through all weather conditions, from driving snow and rain to temperatures as low as -45 degrees and as high as 120 degrees.
No Capital Expenditures
There are no equipment or maintenance costs working with RailState. All commercial agreements are subscriptions for data. We handle all equipment setup and maintenance work for our sensors.
Certified Small Business
RailState is a certified small business with corporate entities and teams in both the United States and Canada.
Our Coverage Area
We have completed coverage across Canada, the US-Canada border, the US-Mexico border, and we are quickly expanding across the United States.
- Blue: Up to 4 years of data history
- Green: Coming online within the next 90 days
Latest Insights
Container Crunch Canada: Tackling Increased Dwell, March 2025
Cross-Border Rail Volumes – March 5, 2025
Cross-Border Rail Volumes – March 4, 2025
Cross-Border Rail Volumes – March 3, 2025
Cross-Border Rail Volumes – March 2, 2025
