Acronyms or Definitions:
Acronyms and Word Definitions for Rail (in alphabetical order)
40 Year: Inspection required after 40 years from build or service for safety. Short for Amtrak PC2 inspection.
800###: A private pass car when it meets AMTRAK standards is assigned an 800,000 number for ID.
AAR: Association of American Railroads
AAPRCO: American Association of Private Rail Car Owners
ABA: Air Brake Association
ABT: Air Brake Test
AC: Alternating Current
AEI Tag: Automatic Equipment Identification Tag is an RFID (Radio Frequency Identification Device) that allows tracking of your car.
Age: How old the car or loco is from first build date.
AMTK: Amtrak, the National Railroad Passenger Corporation is actually the 8th class one railroad
Amtrak PC: Amtrak Private Car Forms that define the car.
ASLRRA: American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association
Arrows: Amtrak system for tracking their equipment and private rail equipment. With PTC coming Arrows and Umler need to match!
BART: Bay Area Rapid Transit (San Francisco, CA)
Blue Flag: flag or light during day and light at night that indicates workers are in/under/around car, do not move car or couple to car. May only be removed by person who placed it.
BNSF: Burlington Northern Santa Fe (1 of 7 class one railroads)
Brake Rate: How quickly the car or loco slows in mph/second.
Brake Ratio: Force applied to slow the wheels divided by the car weight and is used to calculate brake rate. It is required in Umler for freight cars now and is coming for passenger cars.
Build Date: Build date in car or locos first incarnation for equipment is shown in Month/Date/Year.
CARB: California Air Resources Board (emissions)
CAT's: Certified Air Technicians
CEPM: Component Equipment Performance Management now known as Component Tracking. ID of major critical components on cars and locos such as wheels, bearings, axles, brake hardware, etc.
CG: Center of Gravity.
CHARM: Car Hire Accounting Rate Master (railroads use)
CN: Canadian National (1 of 7 class one railroads)
Component Registry: Registration of wheels, axles, brake parts etc in Umler. Currently freight only, but passenger hardware common to freight can be loaded and all hardware is coming.
CP: Canadian Pacific (1 of 7 class one railroads)
CSM: Centralized Station Master
CSX: CSX Corporation (1 of 7 class one railroads)
COMM: 27 pin Communications line
Conflict: a fatal error in Umler that requires the computer to not allow the upload or change
COT&S: Cleaned, Oiled Tested and Stenciled; periodical process for servicing passenger car brake valve systems.
Crash Energy Management: a design configuration of new passenger cars and locos that utilizes push back couplers and end of car deformation to keep the cars in alignment and absorb some of the crash energy
CRB: Car Repair Billing; how shops invoice repairs and parts managed by Railinc
CUPS: Cab Unit Preservation Society (RPCA)
DART: Dallas Area Rapid Transit
DC: Direct Current
DDCT: Damaged and Defective Car Tracking.
DIT: Dead In Tow, or locos moving dead
DOT: US Department of Transportation
DSTM: Designation for a steam engine in Umler
EHMS: Equipment Health Management System; a Railinc service similar to Umler
EPA: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Error: In Umler, this is an incorrect entry that will not allow the computer to complete the upload or change process
ETC: Equipment Type Code, not etc. ‘et cetera’
FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions
FRA: Federal Railroad Administration (part of US DOT)
FRED: Functional Rear End Device or EOT Device: used in place of caboose.
FUR: Find Us Rail the Railinc electronic rail industry phone book.
Gen: a) generation (order of build)
b) generator set
GRL: Gross Rail Load; the sum of the Tare and Load weights
Hog Law: Hours of Service limit for train crews
HEP: Head End Power
ICC: Interstate Commerce Commission (replaced by STB)
ID: Identification
IDT: In Date Test (includes Amtrak Annual Test); not a COT&S
KCS: Kansas City Southern (1 of 7 class one railroads)
LIRR: Long Island Rail Road; commuter railroad in New York City area
LL: Load Limit; the sum of all commodities (including people) carried on/in a car
LMOA: Locomotive Maintenance Officers Association
LOA: Railinc’s Letter of Authorization, allowing a third party to do your work within your reporting mark
MARC: Commuter railroad part of Maryland Mass Transit Administration
MCB: Master Car Builders (early 20th century association of car builders)
Metra: Commuter railroad in Chicago Illinois area
Metro North: Commuter railroad in New York City area
MOT: Ministry of Transport in Canada (equivalent of FRA/STB), was Transport Canada
MOW: Maintenance of Way
MU: Multiple Unit
a. Multiple diesel locos under control of one engineer
b. Multiple car bodies mechanically connected together
NFL: No Field Lube; a type of modern roller bearings
NJT: New Jersey Transit
NMFTA: National Motor Freight Traffic Association (shares reporting marks with rail industry)
NRHS: National Railway Historical Society
NRPC: National Railroad Passenger Corporation aka Amtrak
NS: a) Norfolk Southern (1 of 7 class one railroads)
b) Nashville Star: commuter operation in Nashville Tennessee area
NYAB: New York Air Brake Company, now a division of Knorr Bremse
OL: Operation Lifesaver
Payload: the sum of all commodities (including people) carried on/in a car, also Load
Plate Code: Plate is an Old engineering term for "drawing", in railroading is
a) the Clearance Diagram that describes the largest car or loco that may pass
b) describes the height and width dimensions of cars or locos with respect to how much clearance that rolling stock requires
PTC: Positive Train Control (new train control system mandated by Congress where hazardous materials and/or passengers are carried)
PC1: renewal process and inspection form to retain 800,000 number (annual)
PC2: inspection process and form to apply for 800,000 number (initial and time/mileage based) or periodical heavy inspection
PSGR: Short for Passenger
Reporting Mark: Assigned “owner” identifier shared with trucking, containers, semi trailers, etc. For rail this 4 alpha code is assigned by Railinc.
RFI: Restricted From Interchange, alternately Restricted In Interchange; a term applied by the Umler computer to designate a car or loco that should not be interchanged or even moved by a railroad
RSA: Railway Supply Association
RPCA: Railroad Passenger Car Alliance
Rule G: No Booze, drugs, on the job or prior to the job that can affect performance.
S-4045: Current minimum standard for passenger cars moving over freight railroads and in "excursion" service.
SCAQMD: South Coast Air Quality Management District (California emissions)
SCTD: Single Car Test Device; A device used to test car air brake systems.
SEPTA: Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority
Shop Code: 3 Character Alpha Code assigned by Railinc to railcar and locomotive repair facilities so they may upload Inspections, Air Brake Tests, etc.
SMP: Standard Maintenance Practices. Amtrak standards for maintenance/repairs.
SPLC: Standard Point Location Code (shared with Trucking, Containers etc)
STCC: Standard Transportation Commodity Codes
SOP: Standard Operating Procedures
SRP or S&RP: AAR Standards & Recommended Practices. How manufacturing and repair is supposed to be completed.
STB: US Surface Transportation Board (replaced the ICC)
Tare: the empty weight of a car or loco
Tier: a) level of EPA mandated engine emissions expressed by numbers
b) level of crash energy management for cars and locos also expressed by numbers
TRI-RAIL: Tri County Commuter Rail Authority of Pompano Beach, FL
TTC: Transportation Technology Center (owned by DOT/operated by AAR)
UMLER: An acronym for Universal Machine Language Equipment Register. With the re-write of the system, which went live in August of 2009, the acronym was retired, but the system is still known as Umler.
UP: Union Pacific (1 of 7 class one railroads)
VRE: Virginia Railway Express (commuter agency)
WABCO: Westinghouse Air Brake Company, now WABTEC
WCO: Western Car Owners