Patent ID: 8751290

Claim:
A method for monitoring transport of materials in railcars, the method comprising: receiving a data transmission from a telematics sensor unit comprising data representative of a location, load, status and identity of a railcar; storing the data representative of a location, load, status and identity of a railcar and a time stamp associated with reception of the data transmission from the telematics sensor unit; based on the data representative of a location, load, status and identity of a railcar that is received from the telematics sensor unit, determining, by at least one computer processor, that the railcar is located at a property of a customer; when the railcar is determined to be located at the property of the customer, detecting, using a sensor, a time at which the customer taps the railcar to unload material from the railcar; accessing, by at least one computer processor, market pricing data; determining, using the accessed market pricing data, a market price for the material at the detected time at which the customer taps the railcar to unload material from the railcar; determining an amount of material unloaded from the railcar at the property of the customer and at the detected time; and defining a bill, by at least one computer processor, for the customer tapping the railcar to unload material at the detected time based on the determined market price for the material at the detected time at which the customer taps the railcar to unload material from the railcar and the determined amount of material unloaded from the railcar at the property of the customer and at the detected time.