Rail car terminal facility staging

A method for managing rail cars in a rail car handling terminal of a rail network comprising:

• receiving a plurality of rail cars into the rail car handling terminal of the rail network;
• each rail car having at least one Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag including data identifying the rail car;
• the handling terminal comprising a plurality of rail track lines each for receiving one or more of said plurality of rail cars;
• the handling terminal comprising a plurality of trackside-mounted scanning stations;
• providing a center control hub for the handling terminal;
• operating the scanning stations to obtain rail car data from the RFID tags of the rail cars and transmitting the rail car data to the center control hub;
• at the handling terminal providing a plurality of portable field computers, each comprising:
• an input interface for manual input by a worker of data relating to the rail cars;
• a display for displaying data to the worker;
• a camera module for obtaining images of the rail cars by the worker;
• dividing the handling terminal into a plurality of separate stages of operation on the rail cars, the stages including at least the following:
• arrival from rail network,
• loading/unloading;
• storage;
• cleaning and/or repair;
• release to rail network;
• storing in the center control hub data indicating a current stage and condition of each of the rail cars in the handling terminal;
• before moving a selected rail car from a first stage of the separate stages, communicating from the center control hub to a selected one of the portable computers a prompt requiring the worker to carry out an inspection of the selected rail car in the first stage and to enter data relating to the inspection of the selected rail car into the input interface of the portable computer;
• using the field computers to obtain and enter mechanical data on physical properties and condition of the selected rail car;
• the center control hub using established rules contained in the control hub to provide a signal to the field computers indicative of a selected one of the stages as a next stage into which the selected rail car is to be transferred from said first stage.