WHAT ARE THE ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA?

The RPCNB strives to provide these activities at the lowest possible cost as a service to the constituent members. Criteria have been established to prevent its use by organizations that would result in higher costs to the members.

The car owner must be an active member in good standing of a RPCNB 'Constituent Member' organization, to date this is only the RPCA. Even so,

You are NOT eligible if:

1. The individual member "fleet" to be uploaded exceeds 100 cars and locomotives, or

2. The cars and/or locomotives are used in general revenue freight or passenger (such as a commuter agency or Amtrak) service,

BUT

3. If the car(s) and/or locomotive(s) are retained for historical / preservation purposes, this supercedes the above and that equipment is eligible.

These eligibility criteria may be waived or modified by the RPCNB Board of Directors on the basis of additional information.

For example, if you have 25 excursion passenger cars and 30 freight cars, and the freight cars are in general revenue service under captive lease or free interchange, you may use the RPCNB services for the passenger cars but not the freight cars.

Another example: you are an excursion operator that has passenger cars and a steam loco. You also have a couple of hopper cars used to transport coal to support that steam loco. You may use the RPCNB services for the passenger cars, the steam loco, and the hopper cars that support the loco and the excursion operation.

A third example: If you have a caboose used in excursion service, or a boxcar that is used for storage of hardware supporting your passenger car(s), you may use the services of 'The Bureau' for both.

Last example: you own a car with a current active Amtrak 800 number that sees a lot of use in charter service. You may use the member benefit, because the car is not in the service of a public or private revenue daily transportation service. Charters are not daily commuter runs.

If you own rolling stock, and have a legitimate AAR/Railinc assigned reporting mark, and do not wish to go through the aggravation of inputting and maintaining the Umler files, the above criteria applies with respect to RPCNB performing this service for you. More below.

 

NOTE: If you are an organization or individual who owns equipment that does not meet the criteria above, you are still very welcome to join RPCA for the many advantages that such membership provides, including access to some of the best minds in railroading, the best shops and services, the best supliers, and access to the organization that performs the Umler uploads for RPCNB at a reduced rate from their normal commercial rate. More below.

 

 

HOW ARE NUMBERS ASSIGNED?

Only one number and NO letters are allowed under a single reporting mark at this time. Therefore we can not duplicate numbers.

The owner must be an active member in good standing of at least one of the constituent member organizations (currently only RPCA), provide ALL of the required data, return the properly executed Agreement, and pay the per unit annual RPCNB subscription fee to request his/her desired number.

It is the owner's responsibility to properly stencil the car and properly acquire and apply correct AEI tags! 'The Bureau' can help you with this.

RPCX 800xxx numbers are reserved for current active Amtrak private cars.

If a car is currently Amtrak certified and carried on the Amtrak private car roster as an active private car, the owner may request that the Amtrak assigned 800xxx number also be the assigned RPCX number. In this case, the owner must acquire and apply proper AEI tags and stencil RPCX in front of the Amtrak 800xxx number.

If a car is requested to use other than an Amtrak assigned 800xxx number, the assignment of the number is on a first come, first served basis. This means providing complete car physical and owner contact data, the signed agreement and payment of the fee, while requesting the desired number before anyone else does.

Upon assignment of the number, it is the owner's responsibility to properly stencil the car and properly acquire and apply correct AEI tags!

 

 

WHAT IF I'M A MEMBER BUT ALREADY HAVE MY OWN MARKS?

There is a process that allows RPCNB constituent members to avoid having to do their own data entry.

The owner must provide authorization for RPCNB to provide this service, provide the proper descriptive data on the car(s), and pay the same fees as if receiving the RPCX mark. Additionally, the owner must provide the 'Access Key' and password assigned by Railinc or updated by the owner for their reporting mark, and pay all direct billed costs associated with the Umler listings, as well as any special costs incurred by RPCNB.

This saves you significant time and money if you are not already set up to access Railinc.

If you have not yet used your reporting mark in uploading to Umler, Railinc now assesses a fee to set up the access under the new system!

 

WHAT IF I'M A MEMBER BUT MY EQUIPMENT DOES NOT MEET THE ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA?

Examples of entities to which this would apply include regional commuter and freight only operations, or private owners that lease equipment into this kind of service.

There is a process that allows RPCA members with rolling stock NOT meeting the eligibility criteria above to avoid having to do their own data entry, and to save the time and money required to set up the computer system to access Railinc.

The owner must provide authorization for Great Lakes Railcar to provide this service, provide the proper descriptive data on the car(s), and pay the same fees as if receiving the RPCX mark. This is a significant savings from the regular commercial rate.

Additionally, the owner must provide the 'Access Key' and password assigned by Railinc or updated by the owner for their reporting mark, and pay all direct billed costs associated with the Umler listings, as well as any special costs incurred by GLR.

If the operator/owner does not yet have a legitimately assigned reporting mark, GLR will assist in the application process. This requires signing the AAR Interchange Agreement as well as documentation of the applying entity, and contact information.

Federal, State, Local and Regional operating agencies may request support from GLR by valid PO. Because GLR is a WOSB, such agencies should take credit for SADBU contracting where applicable. This is true also for private operators that perform government contracts, and it counts even if it is not this specific contract.