The Ukrainian Railways public joint-stock company (Ukrzaliznytsia) has announced that it started testing the operation of a system for distributing empty grain cars at the beginning of August. According to the company, railcars are currently distributed online in accordance with electronic applications submitted by customers. In time, strict logical controls will be introduced to prevent distribution of grain cars outside the Empty Railcar Transfer Management System.
According to Ukrzaliznytsia, during the first stage of operation the system, grain trucks will be distributed in accordance with regulatory orders to ensure normal operation of ports with timely dispatch of empty grain cars. "During the next stage, dispatchers at the Transport Logistics Center, which is a division of Ukrzaliznytsia, will distribute grain carriers between the main stations in the Ukrainian railway network. On average, 8-10 such stations have been identified in each of the regional divisions of Ukrzaliznytsia. After distribution between the main stations, the automated system itself will distribute empty wagons between train stations and shippers, depending on electronic orders in the Mesplan automated system," said Zinovii Finiak, the first deputy head of the Transport Logistics Center.
After testing, the automated system for distribution of empty grain cars will be switched to a research mode.
As reported, Ukrzaliznytsia’s head Wojciech Balczun recently said that all freight cars would be distributed among customers automatically from October 2017.
Ukrzaliznytsia launched the first phase of the software for the automated system for distribution of empty grain cars on December 28.
According to information from Ukrzaliznytsia, cement carriers and covered wagons operated by the Transport Logistics Center will be automatically distributed among customers at the initial stage. "We have already switched this group of railcars (cement cars) to automated distribution in order to avoid corruption," said Ukrzaliznytsia board member Marek Zalesny.
