On this page (5)
A UIC number is the twelve-digit identifier of a railway vehicle, assigned under an international standard and marked on the side of the wagon. Successive groups of digits carry information about the type of vehicle, the country of registration and its technical characteristics, and the last digit is a check digit that makes it possible to detect a copying error. For a plant with a siding, the UIC number plays the same role as a number plate does for a road vehicle, except that nobody remembers it and almost nobody copies it out correctly first time. TraxSystem keeps the wagon list, meaning the list of wagons in a train entering the siding, in an editor that checks each UIC number as it is entered.
How a UIC wagon number is structured
A UIC number is written in groups, usually in the form xx xx xxxx xxx-x. The parts stand, in order, for the type of vehicle and how it is operated, the country of registration, the wagon’s technical characteristics, a serial number and a check digit calculated from the other eleven digits.
For record-keeping, the check digit is the most useful part. It lets you verify the number as it is entered, without consulting any database, so a typo in the eighth digit is caught immediately instead of coming to light three weeks later when the accounts are settled.
For record-keeping, knowing how the number is built is enough. The detailed meaning of each group of digits follows from the interoperability regulations and the carriers’ rules, and a description of the number’s structure does not replace the technical documentation or the siding’s operating regulations.
What makes a wagon list hard to keep
A wagon list is the list of wagons in a train entering the siding, recorded by their UIC numbers. It looks like a simple list of a dozen or so numbers, but it causes trouble in three places.
The first is retyping. Twelve digits times fifteen wagons makes a hundred and eighty digits typed in by hand from a sheet of paper or a PDF. The chance that all of them are correct is slim, and a mistake only comes out at settlement, when nobody remembers the details any more.
The second is drift from reality, because the train announced is not always the train that is placed. A wagon drops out, another is added, the order changes, and the wagon list has to cope with that without being retyped in full.
The third starts after arrival. The wagon stands, is unloaded and sometimes waits several days to be collected, so the records have to cover its whole stay on the siding, from arrival to collection.
The wagon list in TraxSystem
In TraxSystem the wagon list has its own editor instead of a text field in the booking form:
- wagons are entered into the train as a list, with the UIC number validated on entry,
- the train can be modified without being created from scratch when its make-up changes,
- each wagon has its own status and its own dwell time on the siding,
- the carrier can enter the wagon list itself, through the portal; the retyping then disappears on the plant’s side and moves to whoever has the data anyway.
A wagon list entered by the carrier saves the plant the most work. With a hundred and eighty digits, the question is who types them in, and the carrier portal moves that work to the source of the data.
What TraxSystem will not do with UIC numbers
TraxSystem will not read a UIC number automatically from the side of a wagon. Number plate recognition works on road vehicles, and wagons are identified through a wagon list entered by hand or through the portal.
Nor will the system check the number against external registers. Validation covers the format and the check digit, so it catches typos, but it does not confirm that the wagon exists, whom it belongs to or what technical condition it is in.
There is no automatic data exchange with rail carriers’ systems: the wagon list reaches the system through the portal or by hand.
Questions and answers
Can the wagon list be loaded from a file?
How the wagon list is passed on is agreed during implementation. The carrier portal is used most often, because it removes the retyping on both sides.
What happens when a wagon stays on the siding longer than planned?
The wagon shows as present, with its dwell time counted, just like a vehicle that has overstayed its planned time.
Can one train be unloaded on several tracks?
Yes. The train is the unit of arrival, but individual wagons are unloaded, which is why each wagon has its own status, independent of the status of the train.
See also: A plant with a railway siding: why road traffic systems don’t handle wagons · Rail delivery booking: a portal for the rail carrier