Patent ID: 8700500

Claim:
A method for a rail transportation company to obtain particulars from a customer about a desired shipment of goods and to perform the desired shipment of goods based on the information received from the customer, the method including: (a) implementing a graphical user interface on a customer computer system, the graphical user interface configured to receive an input from the customer for directing the rail transportation company to use, for the desired shipment of goods, a freight railcar of a type selected by the customer and owned by an entity selected by the customer, the graphical user interface being configured to provide the customer with: (i) at least two freight railcar type options that the customer can choose from, the at least two freight railcar type options including a first option which identifies a first type of freight railcar, and a second option which identifies a second type of freight railcar, which is different from the first type of freight railcar; (ii) at least two freight railcar ownership options that the customer can choose from, one of the freight railcar ownership options identifying the customer as owner of the freight railcar to be used for the desired shipment, another of the freighter railcar ownership options identifying an entity other than the customer as owner of the freight railcar to be used for the desired shipment; (b) performing the desired shipment by using a freight railcar of the type selected by the customer among the freight railcar type options and owned by the entity selected by the customer among the freight railcar ownership options.