Grain Ordering

The Grain ordering process is different enough from other unit train commodities that it needs to be handled separately.

• Grain shippers and receivers build their order information as approach the start of the empty car moves to the loading elevator.

• Grain receivers manage their orders by delivery dates.

The new ordering tool for grain unit trains is accessed by clicking on ‘Place Orders’ in the gray task bar at the top of the Unit Train Management tool.

NOTE: The ‘Place Orders’ screen was designed to be used with a computer screen that has been set to a minimum of 1280 pixels wide. For information about how to change the resolution settings, see how to do it.

For companies with multiple destinations, the new page opens showing them ‘All’ as the default (1). New orders can be placed at the ‘All’ or individual level

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Entering New Orders

To start a new unit train order, click on the green + icon (2) on the date that you’d like to have the train arrive at your destination. An order entry form opens to the right of the calendar. This form is used to add, update, or delete orders. Entering a new order requires certain information. You will need to supply, at minimum, the following data:

• Delivery Date

• Consignee

• Number of cars and their size

• Origin Gateway (Columbus or Evansville)

(This is a fictitious order, used for explanatory purposes)

• The Delivery Date (1) you chose on the calendar has been pre-populated. You can change the date if you wish. (required)

• The Consignee (2) has been pre-selected based on either your choice when you entered ‘Place Orders’ or your ShipCSX set-up. (required)

• The shipment’s destination (3) is not needed at this time but if you know it, it should be entered because it will be required if you filter by destination in ‘Place Orders’ or ‘View Orders’.

• The number of cars and their size (4) is required. The choice for car size should reflect the majority of the cars in the set you think you will use. (required)

• The Origin Gateway (5) is the route the empties will take to reach the Load Origin. Choosing a gateway will define the load origins that will be available once an Origin Parent has been chosen. (required)

• Entering the Load Origin Parent (6) does three things.

• It brings back a list of the origin elevators for which you can then choose a loading point.

• Along side of each possible origin there is a calculated date on which the order should be loaded for it to reach the destination on its desired delivery date.

• Once the order has been submitted, that Load Origin Parent will now be able to see on their View Orders screen that they have an upcoming order to fill.

• When you know which set of cars you’d like to use to fill this order, you can enter it here (7) and it will be seen by the Grain Desk as the set you’d like them to use, if possible.

• If you have any special information that you’d like to retain about this shipment you can use the ‘Special Info’ field (8). Please note that data in this field are visible to you, your grain supplier, and CSX.

• Once you have entered at least the required information, the ‘Submit’ button (9) becomes available. If you would like to start over, use the 'Clear’ button to empty all the previous information.

Updating Existing Orders

Once orders have been entered, there is an easy way to review information about them or update them.

Once an order has been placed, there is also an audit trail that shows everything CSX knows about the order and who has made changes to it. Clicking on that order number (1) will open the order details screen.

Under the order number on the calendar, there is a dark green ‘U’ icon (2) to open the order form pre-populated with the information for that order.

Depending on which status an order is in, certain fields may or may not be changed or actions taken.

(This is a fictitious order, used for explanatory purposes)

• The Destination (1) may be added or changed up until the time billing is submitted by your shipper.

• The Origin Parent (2) and Load Origin (3) may be added or changed up until the Grain Desk assigns the set to an order and it changes to Scheduled Status. After that, a call will have to be made to the Grain Desk to have the change made.

• As described earlier, the Target Load Date (4) is a calculated field based on the Delivery Date and the general transit time between the two points.

• Once your changes have been made, use the Update button (5) to transmit those changes to CSX.

• The Add New button (5) gives you the ability to make changes on the form and then click the Add New button to put in a new order. This would be useful, for example, if you have another order going to the same destination a week later. In that case, you would simply change the Delivery Date, make any other changes needed, and then click Add New.