Mary Kelly, Media Relations
Phone: 609-252-8160
E-mail:kelly@alk.com
Fax: 609-252-8166
PC*MILER|Rail 15 Adds TCP/IP Interface
AALK Technologies Helps Shippers and Logistics Providers
Deal with Expanding Mileage-Based Fuel Surcharges
August 14, 2008 - Princeton, NJ - ALK Technologies, Inc. today announced the release of PC*MILER|Rail 15, the transportation and logistics industry’s leading rail routing, mileage and mapping software solution.
PC*MILER|Rail 15 includes a new TCP/IP interface enabling customers to more easily integrate rail mileage with all leading transportation management software systems. PC*MILER|Rail determines actual operating or shortline (tariff) routes and miles between any two freight stations in North America.
“Railroads are expanding mileage-based fuel surcharges to apply to more and more commodities, including intermodal,” said Mark Hornung, Senior Vice President of Operations for ALK Technologies. “PC*MILER|Rail provides shippers of those commodities with an easy way to verify the accuracy of fuel surcharges as they process the railroads’ invoices.”
The Dow Chemical Company has been a long time user of PC*MILER|Rail. “It is extremely important to be able to accurately estimate rail distances from Dow plants to the customers,” said Olga Tabolina of Global Purchasing for The Dow Chemical Company. “PC*MILER|Rail allows us to quickly calculate mileage and plot multiple routes on a map. I find the tool user friendly and easy to use.”
The PC*MILER|Rail-BatchPro module plays the key role in Dow's Supply Chain network optimization projects. “Our modeling team feeds PC*MILER|Rail-BatchPro with thousands of origin-destination combinations to determine possible routes and corresponding distances. In-house models are then used to estimate potential cost of shipping products on all routes and to minimize total cost of transportation,” stated Ms. Tabolina.
Through ALK’s close working relationship with all major railroads, PC*MILER|Rail features the most accurate digital representation of current North American rail network. PC*MILER|Rail 15 includes 240,000 miles of rail line, more than 49,400 active freight stations, 709 railroads and over 3,600 interchanges, including eight new railroads and 200 additional unique junctions.
Other Key PC*MILER|Rail Benefits:
Serving the railway industry for over 29 years, ALK engineers rail solutions that are widely used in rate determination and negotiation, fuel surcharge calculation, equipment management, rail car mileage auditing, carrier selection, and ad valorem tax reporting. All Class I railroads have adopted PC*MILER|Rail for their mileage calculations, as have most rail car lessors and rail shippers.
For more information visit www.pcmiler.com, or call 1-800-377-6453 ext 1.
About ALK Technologies, Inc.
Since 1979, ALK Technologies has developed innovative mobile navigation and transportation technology solutions. ALK's award-winning CoPilot Live GPS software is the navigation based services platform of choice for mobile operators, hardware OEMs and systems integrators globally. ALK's PC*MILER routing, mileage and mapping solutions are used by over 22,000 transportation, logistics and manufacturing companies worldwide. For more information on ALK Technologies, visit www.alk.com or www.alk.eu.com.