Private car storage charges are what a railroad bills when a car with private (non-railroad) reporting marks sits on the railroad's track instead of yours. It is not demurrage in the everyday sense. You do not get free time to load or unload. The clock usually starts the first midnight after the car is held and stops when it is placed on your track or released. Because these bills arrive monthly, cover dozens of cars and rely entirely on the railroad's event data, they are among the easiest rail charges to overpay. They are also among the easiest to dispute when you have your own records.
What Private Car Storage Is (and Is Not)
Private car storage is a per-car, per-day charge for holding a privately marked car (one you own or lease, not a railroad car) on railroad-controlled track. It typically applies when the car is waiting on you: your track is full, your gate is closed, or the railroad has no forwarding instructions for a loaded car.
Norfolk Southern's tariff spells out the scope clearly. Under NS 6004-D Item 550, storage applies to loaded and empty private cars held on NS tracks under constructive placement after notice of arrival. Time runs until the car is "ordered placed" on private track. It also applies to loaded private cars held on NS tracks waiting for forwarding instructions from the shipper. The same item has a non-application clause that matters a lot: private car storage provisions do not apply to private cars located on private or leased tracks.
That last line is the core of the charge. A private car on your own siding is your problem, but it costs the railroad nothing. The same car in the railroad's serving yard takes a track the railroad wants back, so the railroad bills you for it.
Storage vs. demurrage vs. storage-yard rent
Shippers get these three confused, and that confusion leads to paying the wrong party or disputing under the wrong rule.
| Charge | Applies to | Who bills it | Typical basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Demurrage | Railroad-marked cars held past free time for loading or unloading | Serving railroad | Car days minus credit days, per the demurrage tariff |
| Private car storage | Private-marked cars held on railroad track | Serving railroad | Per car per day, often with few or no credits |
| Storage-yard rent | Idle cars parked by agreement on a short line or private storage track | Yard owner (often a short line) | Negotiated daily or monthly rate plus switching |
The third row is a choice you make on purpose for cars you won't need for a while. That is a different decision, and our guide to railcar storage rates and where to park idle cars covers it. This post is about the first two rows, where the railroad decides when the charge starts. For railroad-car demurrage itself, see the rail demurrage fees guide.
What the Railroads Charge in 2026
Private car storage rates are set in each railroad's own demurrage or accessorial tariff. There is no industry rate. The two Class I rates below are verified against the railroads' current published documents, and every other railroad publishes its own.
| Railroad | Tariff / item | Charge | Credits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Norfolk Southern | NS 6004-D, Item 1010 (Storage Application, Private Cars) | $115.00 per car per day | 0 loading, 0 unloading |
| Norfolk Southern | NS 6004-D, Items 800 and 1010 (Assigned Cars) | $45.00 per day | 1 credit day per car placed in storage |
| Norfolk Southern | NS 6004-D, Item 900 (railway equipment moving on own wheels) | $115.00 per day | 0 |
| Union Pacific | UP 6004, Item 9890 (Private Empty Car Storage, PECS) | $195 per net chargeable storage day | Placement and capacity credits (see below) |
NS raised private car storage from $110 to $115 and assigned-car storage from $40 to $45 in its July 1, 2026 tariff update. Hazmat adds to the total. NS Item 1015 applies the hazardous material charge in Item 1012 in addition to storage charges. That charge is $100 per car per day for hazmat other than TIH and $3,000 for listed TIH commodities.
For BNSF, CSX and short lines, pull the current demurrage/storage tariff from the railroad's customer site before you check a bill. CSX, for example, publishes its private car storage rules in Publication CSXT 8100. Older storage rates show up all over the internet, and they are no good for checking a 2026 invoice.
How the Bill Is Calculated
Both railroads count calendar days that start and stop at midnight and bill monthly. Beyond that, the formulas differ, and you can't check a bill without knowing which formula applies.
Norfolk Southern: car days, almost no credits
- Start: the first 0000 hours after tender (constructive placement and notice) for a private car at destination. At origin, the clock starts when a loaded private car is pulled and held without forwarding instructions.
- Stop: when the car is ordered placed on private track, or when forwarding instructions are received for an originating hold.
- Unit: a storage day is a 24-hour period or any part of one. Weekends count, and eleven holidays do not (Item 950).
- Suspended: while a car is in bad order, pull-turn or pull-weigh status (Item 950, rule 7).
- ETA credits: except for diverted cars, coal/coke/iron ore and merchandise unit trains, NS applies one credit per day to empty private cars when the NS original ETA is not met (Item 950, rule 8).
- Reduced service: if NS offers local service fewer than five days a week, it adds credits for the difference (Item 950, rule 10).
Union Pacific PECS: debits minus credits
- Debit: one per car for each full or partial day a private empty car is in hold status on UP. It accrues from the first 12:00 a.m. after the car goes into hold until the first 12:00 a.m. after release. That covers origin, destination and intermediate hold points, and intermediate time is billed to the receiver's destination.
- Actual placement credit: one per car on the day it is placed at the receiving industry.
- Placement credits (order-in customers): two per car you ordered by web or IVR that UP did not place.
- Capacity credits (spot-on-arrival customers): two per car when UP does not bring in a car to fill available capacity.
- Net: debits minus credits, times the rate. If credits exceed debits, there is no bill. Credits do not carry over to the next month.
- No debits accrue for private empties on private track or in released status, and debits are $0-rated on railroad holidays listed in UP 6004 Item 9655.
The UP structure rewards you for ordering cars in. A car you ordered that UP failed to place earns two credits, which cancels two days of debits. If your team stops ordering because the plant is full, those credits disappear and the debits keep running.
An Illustrative Month
Illustrative example. The car counts and days are made up, and the rates are the published 2026 figures above.
A plastics compounder receives private covered hoppers at a closed-gate plant. A slow month at the extruders backs up deliveries, and 14 empty private hoppers come back through the serving yard at the same time as the loads.
| Scenario | Calculation | Bill |
|---|---|---|
| NS destination, 14 loaded private cars held avg. 5 days before ordered in | 70 car days × $115, 0 credits | $8,050 |
| Same, after removing 2 cars that were bad-ordered for 3 days each | (70 − 6) × $115 | $7,360 |
| UP PECS, 14 empties held avg. 6 days = 84 debits | 84 − 14 AP credits − 10 placement credits (5 ordered, not placed) = 60 × $195 | $11,700 |
| Same, but the team never ordered the 5 cars | 84 − 14 = 70 × $195 | $13,650 |
The two lessons are in the bottom row of each pair. On NS, the money comes from finding days that should have been suspended. On UP, it comes from earning the credits you are owed. Neither shows up unless someone compares the railroad's car-by-car detail with your own records.
Where Storage Bills Go Wrong
Most storage overcharges come from event data, not the rate. The rate is printed in the tariff, while the dates and statuses come from yard scans and crew reports. Look for these:
- Car on your track, billed as on theirs. NS Item 550 and the UP PECS rules both exclude private cars on private or leased track. A car switched in but still showing as held in the yard keeps accruing.
- Constructive placement without notice. Storage at destination starts after notice of arrival. If the notice was never sent, or reached the wrong contact, the start date is open to dispute.
- Ordered in, never placed. On NS, time stops when the car is ordered placed. On UP, an unfilled order earns two credits. Either way, your order history is the evidence, so save the confirmations.
- Bad order time billed. NS suspends storage while a car is bad-ordered. A car waiting on a shop for a week should not be on your storage bill for that week. See what to do when a railcar is bad-ordered.
- Bunching. Cars that were spread out at origin arrive together. On NS, a missed original ETA earns empty private cars a credit a day. Check the ETA column before you accept the debits.
- Wrong party. NS bills the shipper at origin or the consignee at destination. For demurrage, 49 CFR 1333.3(b) requires a Class I railroad to bill the shipper or consignee directly once that party and the terminal or warehouse send a joint notice of their agreement. Check whether that notice was filed, and ask whether your railroad handles storage the same way.
- Holiday and diversion days. Holiday days are $0-rated under both programs. On UP, a car diverted mid-month stops accruing to the first receiver at diversion.
- Hazmat surcharge on non-hazmat. A wrong STCC on the waybill can pull the Item 1012 hazmat charge onto a car carrying plastic pellets.
How to Dispute a Storage Charge
To dispute a private car storage charge, pull the railroad's car-level detail, match each car's timestamps against your own records, and file through the railroad's online dispute tool before the tariff deadline. Name the specific car, the dates and the tariff rule for each one. Disputes that just say "too high" get rejected. Disputes that point to a specific car and rule get credited.
- Get the detail, not the summary. Under 49 CFR 1333.4, a Class I demurrage invoice must show each car's reporting marks, loaded/empty status, original ETA, actual and constructive placement, notice, order-in time, release, and its credits and debits. 1333.5 also requires machine-readable access. Ask for the same detail on storage bills, and download it into a spreadsheet.
- Match against your own records. Use gate logs, switch lists, order confirmations from the railroad portal, plant receiving records, and bad-order and repair notices.
- Tag each variance to a tariff rule. For example: "Car XXXX 123456, 4 days billed while bad-ordered, NS 6004-D Item 950 rule 7."
- File on time. NS requires disputes through AccessNS by the 5th calendar day of the month after accrual closes. After that, they must be in writing within 30 days of the invoice date, with specific dates and events, and late disputes are rejected (Item 950, rule 9). UP takes PECS disputes through its Accessorial Management Application (AMA) or Invoice Management. Check your bill for the current window.
- Pay the undisputed portion. Short-paying a whole invoice turns a five-car dispute into a collections problem.
- Track it to a credit memo. A dispute is not finished until the credit shows up on a later statement.
The NS deadline is the trap. A storage bill that sits in someone's inbox for two weeks has already missed the easy window. Storage bills should go through the same monthly review as freight bills, as described in our guide to freight invoice reconciliation.
Keeping Cars Off the Storage Bill
The cheapest storage dispute is the one you never have to file. Most storage exposure comes from a mismatch between what is in the pipeline and what your track can hold.
- Meter the empties. Hold empties at origin or on a lessor's storage track instead of letting them all flow back to a yard next to a full plant.
- Order in every day you have room. On UP, an unfilled order earns credits. On NS, the order stops the clock.
- Give forwarding instructions with the release. Loaded private cars pulled without instructions start originating storage on NS.
- Park long-idle cars on purpose. A car you won't need for months belongs on contracted storage or on the sublease board, not on the serving railroad's per-diem clock. The storage locator lists storage track options.
- Right-size the fleet. Persistent storage bills often mean you have more cars than your track and your cycle time can handle. That is a fleet question worth a review.
If nobody on your team owns these bills, they get paid without a check. Our rail freight audit and recovery service reviews storage and demurrage invoices against your records and files the disputes, and our rail logistics services cover the fleet and car-flow side. To learn the rules yourself, the demurrage course module walks through credits, debits and constructive placement step by step.
Sources: Norfolk Southern Freight Tariff NS 6004-D, effective July 1, 2026 (Items 200, 550, 800, 900, 950, 1000, 1010, 1012, 1015) and NS "July 2026 Tariff Update" notice, norfolksouthern.com; Union Pacific Accessorial Charges page (UP 6004 Item 9890) and Private Empty Car Storage FAQ, up.com, accessed October 8, 2026; 49 CFR 1333.3, 1333.4 and 1333.5. The worked example is illustrative. This is general information, not legal advice. Your contract and the governing tariffs control.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are private car storage charges?
Private car storage charges are per-car, per-day fees a railroad bills when a car with private (non-railroad) reporting marks is held on railroad track, usually because the receiver's track is full, the gate is closed, or a loaded car has no forwarding instructions. They do not apply to private cars sitting on your own or leased track.
How much do railroads charge for private car storage in 2026?
Norfolk Southern charges $115 per car per day with no credits under NS 6004-D Item 1010, effective July 1, 2026. Union Pacific charges $195 per net chargeable storage day for Private Empty Car Storage under UP 6004 Item 9890, after placement and capacity credits. Other railroads publish their own rates in their demurrage or accessorial tariffs.
What is the difference between demurrage and private car storage?
Demurrage generally applies to railroad-owned cars held beyond free time for loading or unloading. Private car storage applies to cars with private marks held on railroad track, often with few or no free days. Both are billed monthly by the serving railroad, and storage is frequently published in the same tariff as demurrage.
How long do I have to dispute a Norfolk Southern storage charge?
Under NS 6004-D Item 950, disputes must be filed online through AccessNS by the 5th calendar day of the month following the accrual closing. After that, a dispute must be in writing within 30 days of the invoice date and include specific dates and events. Disputes outside those limits are rejected.
Can I avoid UP Private Empty Car Storage charges?
Yes, mostly by earning credits and keeping empties off hold. UP gives one credit when a car is actually placed and two credits for each car you order in that UP does not place (or each unfilled capacity slot for spot-on-arrival customers). No debits accrue on private track or for cars in released status. Credits expire at month end.