Abstract: A railcar sensing system is provided that in particular provides a system for sensing the orientation of a hatch of a railway tank car. The railcar sensing system includes an accelerometer for sensing the orientation of the hatch, a position sensing device for detecting the global position of the railcar, and a processing unit. The accelerometer sends a first signal to the processing unit when the orientation of the hatch changes more than a predetermined angle. The processing unit also senses whether the railway tank car is outside one of the preselected safe zones. If the railway tank car is located outside one of the preselected safe zones, and the accelerometer senses that the hatch orientation has been changed more than a predetermined angle, an alert signal is sent to a receiver indicative of such event.