Category: Management of Bad Ordered and Railroad Damaged Equipment

Management of Bad Ordered and Railroad Damaged Equipment

RAS will be the first point of contact for railroads to request disposition for bad ordered equipment.  RAS is fully compliant with current AAR mandates such as the Damaged and Defective Car Tracking System (DDCTS).  Every attempt will be made to correct the defect(s) utilizing regional mobile repair contractors in an effort to minimize out of service time.  Should more extensive repairs be required, RAS will provide disposition to an appropriate contract repair facility.  Immediate notifications will be made via email to all applicable parties.

Utilizing our online repairSMART system, contract shops will have the ability to submit estimates and documents electronically regardless of the billing system that they employ.  This increases the efficiency of the approval process and allows car owners to monitor shop activities managed by RAS to the extent that they choose.

Once the car arrives at the repair shop, RAS will evaluate the estimate of repairs and, if it is determined to be acceptable, repairs will be approved.  In the case of railroad damage, RAS will receive a Joint Inspection Certificate as required and will process it for endorsement with the damaging railroad.  RAS will prepare a Settlement Value Statement where applicable and present it to the damaging railroad along with the joint inspection certificate obtained from the shop.  RAS will enlist all reasonable means to ensure that the damaging railroad promptly processes and returns the joint inspection certificate so that the repairs can be expedited and the car returned to service as quickly as possible.  Estimates for cars requiring extensive repairs will be evaluated against the AAR depreciated value, the car owner’s current asset value, and/or other market information deemed appropriate by the car owner.  Once repairs are approved, the progress of the car through the repair shop will be monitored on a frequent basis to ensure that the car is returned to service as quickly as possible.  RAS will also assist the repair shop in obtaining components that are not normally kept in inventory.  Once repairs are completed, RAS will obtain the return disposition from the appropriate party and release the car from the repair facility.

Invoices for repairs will be provided directly to RAS through the repairSMART system.  Upon receipt, the invoices will be audited for adherence to the approved estimate.  Once an invoice is determined to be acceptable it will be paid directly by RAS and rebilled on the monthly statement to the car owner.  Repairs that are covered by previously processed Joint Inspection Certificates will be rebilled to the damaging railroad.  As the AAR requires that this type of rebilling be done using AAR standard pricing, any discount that was negotiated by RAS during the estimate approval process will be credited in full to the car owner.