ALK Technologies Inc. announced the release of PC Miler Rail 18, the latest version of its rail routing, mileage and mapping software solution the transportation and logistics industry. ALK says through a close working relationship with all of the major railroads that it has developed an accurate digital representation of the current North American rail network in PC Miler Rail.
One of many new features in PC Miler Rail 18 is the ability to avoid or favor junction interchanges in AutoRouter, a tool that helps simplify route entry by suggesting the junctions and railroad connections to use between origin and destination points. A separate new feature helps process large volumes of origin-destination pairs and interline routes with specific origin and destination railroads using the PC Miler Rail-BatchPro module. PC Miler Rail 18 offers improved Intermodal routing, fuel Surcharge routing and railroad map views.
ALK says data attributes have been enhanced for more than 240,000 miles of rail line, 49,516 active freight stations, thousands of unique junction interchanges and hundreds of rail carriers, including 14 new railroads. Rail networks also have been revised to incorporate recent track abandonments.
Key shipper benefits include fuel surcharge calculation, car hire, equipment management, rail car mileage auditing, rate determination and negotiation, carrier selection and ad valorem tax reporting. Motor carriers and logistics providers with intermodal operations likewise rely heavily on PC Miler Rail to determine routing options, rail mileages and freight rates.
ALK offers customers several licensing options and value-added solutions to access PC Miler Rail routing, mileage and mapping functionality. The standard Windows-based interactive single or multiuser installation allows users to manually run and analyze routes, while PC Miler Rail-BatchPro is designed to process large volumes of origin-destination pairs. PC Miler Rail-Connect integrates with custom or third-party applications and includes Microsoft Excel Add Ins to compute routes via spreadsheet formulas. A TCP/IP add-on is available for interfacing with other platforms, including UNIX, IBM iSeries, and CICS Mainframe. PC Miler Rail map data files can be licensed to use with ALK’s routing network model or other GIS software.
