At the recent meeting of the steering committee of Rail Connected, the members agreed to the final transition date of 1 October for the submission of the train composition via HCN Rail to the terminals connected to HCN Rail. This release note contains information on the follow-up steps of this decision for rail operators. Information for traction suppliers will follow later.
How does this affect you as a rail operator?
With this extension, HCN Rail now offers not only a central digital platform for pre-notifying your containers and visits, but also for sharing train compositions. Digital sharing of train composition reduces manual operations and enables data reuse, reducing the risk of errors and increasing the efficiency of communication between chain parties.
As a rail operator, you have until 1 October at the latest to switch to sharing train composition via HCN Rail via the web screens or the API developed for this purpose.
What do you need to do if you want to start sharing your train compositions with Portbase via the HCN Rail web screens?
You will soon receive instructions on how to submit the train composition via the web screens. These serve as a manual for the Train Composition functionality within the HCN Rail web screens. A demo will be organised in mid-June to clarify these instructions. As this demo provides insight into how the Train Composition functionality works, we recommend joining this demo for both web screen and API users. Communication with more details on this demo will follow soon.
What should you do if you want to share your train compositions with Portbase via a system link?
If you want to start sharing the train composition with Portbase via a system link from your own TMS, we recommend contacting your software supplier as soon as possible. Your software supplier will require the following information:
- Your software supplier can consult the API specifications for the integration.
- In addition, use cases have been developed that provide additional explanations on how to use the Train Composition functionality. You can find these use cases here, under ‘Usecases – Train composition’.
- To establish the system link, your software supplier will need a test account. If your software supplier does not already have a test account, they can request one here.
- To support the integration processes, a counter has been set up to answer any technical questions your supplier may have. Their email address is g.keulers@portbase.com.
In addition, please note the following:
- To share your train composition with Portbase via a system link, it is necessary to add a number of fields related to dangerous goods per container in already existing endpoints.On the train composition, the UN number, hazard identification number (GEVI), and hazard class must be shared with the terminal for containers carrying dangerous goods. For handlings pre-notified to the terminals connected to HCN Rail, the Train Composition functionality retrieves the container data, including the dangerous goods data, using the handlingID. This requires that you provide the details about the dangerous goods in the pre-notification. This was not possible before. For this reason, several new fields were added to the Create (detached) handling, Update (detached) handling, and Move any handling endpoints in the Operator API – handlings, with the Train Composition API going live. This involves the following fields: handlingData.dangerousGoods.unCode, handlingData.dangerousGoods.hazardClass, and handlingData.dangerousGoods.gevi. Your software supplier can consult the API-specifications.
- Through a system link, it is possible to include handling-level remarks in the train composition. If you want to make use of this option, please check with your software supplier whether you are currently able to enter the field handlingData.remarks in the Create (detached) handling, Update (detached) handling, and Move any handling endpoints in the Operator API – handlings.
- To share the train composition with the terminal, it is required to provide the container number for all containers.
We will provide support during this integration process via Portbase. To give you the best possible guidance, we would like to know whether you intend to share the train composition with Portbase via the web screens or via the API. We do not have the capacity to support everyone at the same time. This means we will have to make a schedule together. The earlier you share your schedule, the better we can take it into account. Please email the following details to s.dorrepaal@portbase.com:
- Will you share the train composition with Portbase via the web screens or via the API?
- If you want to share it via API, the following questions apply as well:
- Who is your software supplier?
- When can your software supplier start building the system link?
