EDI 417 Rail Carrier Waybill Interchange Guide

The EDI 417 is the waybill that travels with a rail car from one railroad to the next. A shipper tenders a car with a 404 Rail Carrier Shipment Information. The origin railroad turns that bill of lading into its own waybill, gives it a number, and sends a 417 to every other railroad that will handle the car, so the connecting road knows what it is receiving at the junction before the car arrives. Some railroads also send the 417 to shippers, consignees and logistics providers, which is how most non-railroad readers meet it.

This guide covers what the 417 carries, how waybills move between railroads, every segment you will map, a live sample that continues the carload from our 404 guide, how the 417 compares with the 404 and the 410 freight invoice, and what to check when you receive one.

What Is an EDI 417?

An EDI 417 is the Rail Carrier Waybill Interchange transaction set defined by ASC X12, used to provide a rail carrier with detailed movement instructions for a shipment. The X12 description notes that Class I railroads in the United States and Canada use it, and CN's current guide describes it as used by all Class I rail carriers in the US, Canada and Mexico. It travels in functional group WB (the GS01 value).

Authoritative references for 417 work:

• Stedi's X12 004010 reference for the 417 lists the segments, loops and elements in release 004010
• CN's 417 implementation guide shows a railroad's outbound 417, with a complete sample, in release 008050
• Railinc's Interline Settlement System is the industry process for dividing revenue when two or more railroads handle a shipment, and the AAR's Railway Accounting Rules cover the electronic exchange of waybill information
• The Surface Transportation Board's waybill reference guide documents the waybill data railroads report to the regulator, a useful glossary for fields such as STCC, SPLC and car type
• Railinc's STCC resource describes the seven-digit commodity codes in L5

Who sends it? A railroad: usually the origin railroad that created the waybill, and in some cases a railroad that corrects or reissues it.

Who receives it? The other railroads in the route, and customers such as shippers, consignees, 3PLs and freight payment providers who ask for waybill copies.

When is it sent? When the waybill is created, after the car is released, and again when the waybill is corrected or the shipment is diverted.

Why does it matter? Every later step depends on the waybill. The connecting railroad plans its trains from it, the destination railroad delivers to the consignee in it, and the freight bill is rated from the commodity, weight and route on it. If you receive 417s, they are your earliest confirmation that the railroad billed the car the way you tendered it.

How Waybills Move Between Railroads

North American rail freight often moves over more than one railroad. A car might start on a regional railroad, be handed to a Class I at a junction, and be delivered by a short line at the far end. Each of those railroads needs the same shipment data, and the 417 is the standard way to share it.

1. Shipper releases the car. The shipper sends a 404, or enters the bill of lading on the railroad's portal.
2. Origin railroad creates the waybill. It assigns a waybill number and date, adds the station codes and the route, and confirms the weight basis and the price authority.
3. Origin railroad sends a 417. Each connecting railroad gets the waybill before the car reaches the junction. Customers who subscribe get a copy.
4. Car moves and is interchanged. At each junction the receiving railroad matches the physical car (by reporting mark and number) to the waybill it already holds.
5. Revenue is settled. On a through rate, the railroads divide the revenue among themselves through the industry's interline settlement process. On a Rule 11 shipment (BX03 = 11), separate rates apply to different parts of the route, and the railroads' guides explain how each part is billed.
6. The payer is billed. The billing railroad sends a 410 to the party that pays the freight.

The waybill number in N8 and the car's reporting mark and number in N7 are the keys that tie the 404, the 417, the car's movement and the 410 together.

Interactive Example: Origin Railroad to Connecting Railroad

This continues the shipment from our 404 guide. The origin railroad (QPRR) has created waybill 318204 for the loaded wallboard car QPLX 450127 and sends the 417 to the connecting railroad (QSWR), which will take the car at Des Moines and deliver it to Joliet.

BX repeats the shipment terms, now with the bill of lading number as the shipment ID. BNX keeps the shipper's scale weight and single shipment billing. DTM (qualifier 168) gives the release date and time. N7 adds the car's tare weight to the lading weight from the 404. N8 carries the waybill number and date. F9 and D9 now include each station's Freight Station Accounting Code. The parties, the two R2 route segments (with rail mode in R206) and the lading follow. All names, SCACs, reporting marks, codes and numbers are fictional.

Use the Plain English tab for a readable summary, or click any segment to break it down element by element.

417 Structure at a Glance

The table follows X12 release 004010 and lists the segments most 417s carry. Like the 404, the full set also has vehicle, intermodal, empty car disposition, transit, export, customs and hazardous materials segments.

Two structural differences from the 404: R2 is mandatory in the 417, and the 417 carries the railroad's waybill reference in N8. The 417 has no M3 release segment; the release is already done, and CN's guide reports it in DTM instead.

Key Segments Explained

BX and BNX: Shipment Information

BX*00*R*PP*NGP-BL-60418*QPRR*L*B*N~
BNX*S**S~

The elements match the 404. BX01 is the purpose code, BX02 the mode (R rail), BX03 the payment terms, BX04 the shipment ID, BX05 the SCAC of the railroad issuing the waybill, BX06 the weight unit and BX07 the shipment qualifier. In CN's sample, BX04 carries the shipper's bill of lading number. BNX01 is the weight basis and BNX03 the billing type: here, shipper certified scale weight and single shipment billing.

If you receive 417s as a shipper, compare BX03 and BNX01 with what you sent on the 404. A change in payment terms or weight basis means the railroad billed the car differently from your instructions.

DTM: Release Date

DTM*168*20261106*1430*CT~

N7: Equipment Details

N7*QPLX*450127*168000*N*67200******RR~

CN's 417 also sends the car length (N715), the tare qualifier (N716, M marked), height and width (N720, N721) and the AAR car type code (N724). Those come from the railroad's equipment records, not from the shipper, which is why the 417 is often more complete than the 404 it was built from.

N8: Waybill Reference

N8*318204*20261106~

Waybill numbers are short and repeat over time, so a waybill is identified by its number, date and issuing railroad together, never the number alone. Store all three.

F9 and D9: Stations With FSAC Codes

F9*41720*FORT DODGE*IA~
D9*63115*JOLIET*IL~

A shipper's 404 often has only the station name. The railroad's 417 adds the codes. If you load rail data into a transportation or freight audit system, use the FSAC and SPLC from the 417 as the station key rather than the spelling.

R2: Route Information

R2*QPRR*S*DES MOINES***R~
R2*QSWR*1****R~

Check the route on every 417 you receive. If the railroads or junctions differ from your 404, the car is moving on a route you did not ask for, and the rate may differ too.

N1, LX, L5 and L0

The party and lading segments work as they do in the 404: N1 with SH, CN and PF, then L5 with the description and STCC (L504 = T) and L0 with the weight, weight qualifier and package count. CN's 417 adds a customer identification code in N103/N104 for each party, so the receiving railroad knows which of its customer accounts the party is.

417 vs 404, 410, 214 and 315

The 417 is not a status message. It tells you how the car was billed and routed, not where it is now. For car location, ask the railroad which status feed or tracing tool it offers. On an import container that moves inland by rail under the ocean carrier's bill, the ocean carrier's 315 reports rail events such as loaded on rail and rail departure.

What to Check When You Receive a 417

417 Implementation Checklist

Before you start receiving 417s from a railroad:

• Ask the railroad whether it sends 417s to customers, and which shipments it includes (outbound, inbound, both)
• Confirm the X12 version in GS08; CN, for example, sends release 008050
• Key waybills on number, date and issuing SCAC, and link them to your bill of lading and car
• Map the station codes (F901, D901, F908, D908) into your location master
• Decide how corrected waybills update stored data, and who reviews the changes
• Feed the weight, STCC and route into your freight audit so the 410 can be checked against them
• Confirm the 997 you will return for each 417
• Test a single-line route, an interline route, a correction and a multi-car shipment

For how rail sets sit next to the order, ship notice and invoice, see our EDI document types reference.

Where OrderSync Fits

The PO number a railroad copies onto its waybill, and the consignee and quantity behind it, all come from a customer order. That order might have arrived as an EDI 850, a PDF, an email or a spreadsheet.

OrderSync reads inbound orders in any format, matches customers, items and units to your catalog, and outputs clean ERP data or valid X12. Paste any 417 into the free EDI inspector to see it parsed segment by segment with a plain-English summary and any structural errors explained, or book a 15-minute walkthrough to see your own orders processed.

Frequently Asked Questions