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What is Haulage?

In railroad operations, haulage occurs when one railroad uses another railroad’s track to move freight. It’s a common arrangement that allows railroads to extend their reach without building new infrastructure.

Haulage Rights

The railroad with the commercial relationship - they have the customer contract and negotiate rates, but don’t own the track for a segment.

Haulage Movement

The railroad that physically moves the freight - they own the track and provide the locomotives and crews for that segment.
Think of it like a shipping company that doesn’t own trucks in a certain region. They contract with a local trucking company to move packages, but the shipping company keeps the customer relationship and handles billing.

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Why Haulage Management Matters

Without proper haulage management, railroads face: - Revenue leakage from missed billing opportunities - Compliance issues from incorrect EDI messages - Operational confusion from unclear responsibilities
Cedar’s haulage automation handles the complexity so your team can focus on operations.

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How Cedar Handles Haulage

1

Automatic Detection

Cedar identifies haulage arrangements by analyzing route codes in waybills - no manual flagging required.
2

Smart Message Generation

The system automatically generates the right EDI messages: - Haulage messages to movement carriers with appropriate content - Forward & Store messages to downstream carriers with cleaned routes
3

Route Processing

Routes are intelligently processed to show only what each recipient needs to see - protecting your commercial relationships while ensuring operational accuracy.
4

Multi-Carrier Support

Complex routes with multiple haulage segments? Cedar handles them all, generating separate messages for each movement carrier.

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Key Features

Automatic Haulage Bill Generation

Cedar identifies haulage arrangements from your waybill routes and automatically generates and sends the appropriate EDI messages to movement carriers - no manual tracking required.
Routes are automatically processed so each recipient sees only the information they need, protecting your commercial relationships while ensuring operational accuracy.
Empty car movements are detected automatically and processed with the appropriate billing codes and documentation.
When cars return empty, Cedar reverses routes while preserving haulage relationships and carrier responsibilities.
Cedar handles real-world complexity including routes where the same railroad appears multiple times with different roles, or routes with multiple haulage segments.

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Supported Scenarios

Cedar’s haulage module handles a wide range of real-world scenarios:

Simple Haulage

Standard arrangements where your railroad has commercial rights and another performs the movement.

Multiple Haulage Segments

Complex routes with haulage arrangements at multiple points along the journey.

Haulage Before/After Origin

Whether haulage occurs before or after your railroad’s origination point.

Same Carrier, Multiple Roles

Routes where the same railroad appears multiple times with different responsibilities (e.g., origin and haulage rights).

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Integration with Other EDI Features

Haulage management works seamlessly with Cedar’s other EDI automation features:

General Waybill Transmission

Send waybills to connecting carriers with optional haulage support built in.

Forward & Store

Submit F&S-compliant waybills to Railinc with automatic haulage route processing.

Switch Billing

Bill switch carriers for terminal services at origin or destination.

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Benefits

Automated ProcessingEliminate manual haulage bill creation and tracking. Cedar processes haulage automatically as waybills flow through the system.

Reduced ErrorsRule-based processing ensures consistent, accurate EDI messages every time.

Faster TurnaroundReal-time processing means haulage bills go out immediately, not when someone remembers to create them.

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Getting Started

Haulage processing is automatic once your workflows are configured. Contact your Cedar implementation team to enable haulage features for your operations.
1

Review Your Haulage Arrangements

Identify which carriers you have haulage relationships with.
2

Configure Workflows

Work with Cedar to set up your EDI workflows with haulage options enabled.
3

Validate Messages

Review sample outputs to ensure messages meet your requirements.
4

Go Live

Enable automated haulage processing in production.

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Questions?

For questions about haulage configuration or to enable haulage features for your railroad, contact your Cedar account team or email [email protected].