Pull your BNSF shipment data into your own systems

What you can build on the Customer Portal

• Trace your railcars

  Build this

  Reads Track Your Shipment for the railcars or intermodal units you list: where each one is and the last event recorded for it.

  Takes

  Equipment initials and numbers

  Returns

  Equipment ID, last event, event location, event date and time, origin, destination, loaded or empty

• Get open freight invoices

  Build this

  Reads Account Status for your account: the invoices still open, with their amounts and dates.

  Takes

  Invoice date from (optional)

  Returns

  Invoice number, invoice date, due date, equipment ID, amount, status

• Check accruing demurrage

  Build this

  Reads the Customer Dwell Management Tool: the cars in your current inventory and the charges accruing this month.

  Takes

  Facility (optional)

  Returns

  Equipment ID, facility, placed date, chargeable days, accruing charge, month to date total

• Release a railcar from your facility

  Build this

  Uses Switch & Release to release a car you have loaded or emptied at your facility so BNSF can pull it.

  Takes

  Facility, equipment initial and number, loaded or empty

  Returns

  Equipment ID, facility, release type, confirmation number

Automate the Customer Portal with a workflow

A workflow runs your methods as one process, with nobody at the screen. A schedule or a call from your own system starts it, the steps run in order, and the result arrives in your inbox or in the systems you already use.

• Railcars with a new event, before the morning call

  Build this

  Starts

  Every weekday at 6:00 Central Time

  Step 1

  Trace the railcars and units on your list in Track Your Shipment.

  Step 2

  Keep the ones whose last event changed since the last run.

  Step 3

  Email you the list with equipment ID, event, location and time.

• Demurrage building up, car by car

  Build this

  Starts

  Every day at 8:00 Central Time

  Step 1

  Check accruing demurrage in the Customer Dwell Management Tool.

  Step 2

  Keep the cars whose accruing charge changed since the last run.

  Step 3

  Post each car's facility, chargeable days and charge to your webhook.

• New freight invoices handed to accounts payable

  Build this

  Starts

  Every Monday at 7:00 Central Time

  Step 1

  Get the open invoices in Account Status.

  Step 2

  Keep the invoices that were not there on the last run.

  Step 3

  Post invoice number, dates, equipment ID and amount to your ERP webhook.

You can run a workflow by hand on every plan, Free included. Schedules and webhook triggers come with the paid plans, from $29 a month.

Once built, one call from your code

Once you have built a method, it is one POST to /v1/runs from your backend, or a tool an AI agent calls over MCP. This is what “Trace your railcars” would look like.

curl https://api.fous.com/v1/runs \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $FOUS_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "method": "customer.bnsf.com/trace_railcars",
    "input": {
      "equipment": [
        "ACMX 104233",
        "NWDX 22817"
      ]
    }
  }'

{
  "status": "completed",
  "data": {
    "cars": [
      {
        "equipment_id": "ACMX 104233",
        "last_event": "Arrival at destination",
        "event_location": "Galesburg, IL",
        "event_time": "2026-11-12T04:41:00-06:00",
        "origin": "Kansas City, KS",
        "destination": "Galesburg, IL",
        "loaded": true
      }
    ],
    "count": 1
  }
}

An example with invented data, not a ready-made endpoint. The method exists in your organization once you build it, and its name, inputs and fields follow your request.

The Customer Portal’s own options

BNSF offers a Customer API for tracing, hub operations, rates, open invoices and waybills. It needs a BNSF.com user ID and a certificate from a well-known certificate authority, starts in a Trial environment and moves to Production on request. BNSF also exchanges EDI 322, 404, 410 and 820 by FTP or through a VAN.

Read on November 12, 2026: BNSF.com customer tools, BNSF API Center: Support, BNSF API Center: Catalog.

Signing in to the Customer Portal

The Customer Portal signs you in on BNSF's sign-in page with a BNSF.com user ID and password, with a Remember me option. User IDs come from Customer Registration, and approval can take 24 to 48 hours. With Fous you sign in once through BNSF's own sign-in with your own account, and the login is sealed with AES-256.

Worth knowing

Car data follows the waybill

BNSF's Customer API returns data on a car or unit only to a company on its waybill: shipper, consignee, beneficial owner or monitor. A shipper can add you with a Letter of Authorization or the ZS monitor role.

Unit History goes back 13 months

Track Your Shipment shows the current movement, and Unit History keeps up to 13 months of trace information on a shipment. Rail Central builds customized movement reports.

Demurrage counts chargeable days

BNSF charges demurrage with a debits and credits system. Sundays count and BNSF-identified holidays do not. The full terms are in Demurrage Book 6004-C.

Disputes start in the dwell tool

Questions about demurrage charges are raised in the Customer Dwell Management Tool under Invoice or Car inquiries and disputes, which also shows past invoices.

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