Patent ID: 7363234

Claim:
A computer readable medium including a program element implementing a graphical user interface (GUI) allowing a railway transportation company to deliver to a customer a quote for .shipping a commodity by rail, the GUI comprising: a) an origin and destination field allowing a customer to specify an origin and destination of the shipment, the origin and destination field presenting: i) a first input component allowing the customer to specify an origin of the shipment of the commodity; ii) a second input component allowing the customer to specify a destination of the shipment of the commodity; b) a commodity selection field allowing the customer to specify the commodity to be shipped, the commodity selection field presenting: i) a third input component allowing the customer to specify a type of commodity to be shipped; ii) a fourth input component allowing the customer to specify a quantity of the commodity to be shipped; c) a railcar owner selection field presenting the customer with an input option to specify a railcar owner whose one or more railcars are to be used for shipping the commodity, the specified railcar owner being selected amongst two or more different railcars owners, the input option allowing the customer to specify an entity as railcar owner that is distinct from the railway transportation company; d) a first control component for allowing the customer to cause a price quote for shipping the commodity to be computed on the basis of multiple factors including the entity specified by the customer as railcar owner; e) a price quotation field for displaying to the customer the price quote for shipping the commodity computed on the basis of multiple factors including the entity specified by the customer as railcar owner; f) a second control component presenting the customer with an option to order from the railway transportation company a transportation service for shipping the commodity at the quoted price using one or more railcars owned by the entity specified by the customer as railcar owner.