New locomotive designs are increasingly complex due to the confluence of regulatory requirements for emissions,&nbsp;customer demands for improved performance and attempts to incorporate new technologies (such as emissions aftertreatment, collision avoidance software and a projected use of propulsion batteries or even fuel cells as alternative power plants). &nbsp;Customer railroads demand that new locomotives do not exceed specified rates of road failure to minimize train delays, maximize network fluidity and reduce operating expenses.The locomotive manufacturers, however, have approached new locomotive designs (and new onboard technologies) in an inconsistent manner over the past two decades, often leading to the sale of new loocomotive models which fail to meet customer railroad expectations. Several fleets of new locomotives have had short service lives (resulting in premature scrapping) caused by railroad dissatisfaction. &nbsp;Other fleets of new locomotives have achieved success in meeting railroad reliability requirements. A primary contributor to the failure (and even scrappage) of some new locomotive fleets and the market success and greater acquisition by railroads of other new locomotive fleets has been the pre-production testing of locomotives devoted to Reliability Growth Testing (RGT) before full commercialized production is started. &nbsp;These RGT fleets have allowed their manufacturer(s) to expose pre-production locomotives to "real world" railroad operating and maintenance conditions, resulting in an accelerated discovery of failure modes, redesign opportunities and adjustment of components, systems and technologies before commercial production is started.A downside for locomotive manufacturers to the&nbsp;presence and use of RGT locomotive fleets, however, is the financial burden for the&nbsp;manufacturer&nbsp;having to produce and support "unsold pre-production test locomotives" before commercial sales and manufacturing begins. The upside for manufacturers, however, is avoiding railroad customer dissatisfaction (and even loss of future new locomotive sales), avoiding post-delivery modifications to new locomotives (which are removed from railroad revenue production) to implement design changes, and giving railroad customers confidence in the manufacturer's product.A downside for railroad customers (in both freight and passenger/commuter areas) to the presence and use of RGT fleets is often a delay in obtaining new locomotives or new locomotive technologies, caused by the need to do RGT "shake down" before commercial production begins. &nbsp;The upside for railroad customers, however, is that adequate RGT "shake down" supported by manufacturer-provided field test locomotives can avoid acquiring locomotives which are unreliable, fail to meet the operating and maintenance needs of the railroad, and carry excessive financial burdens of unavailability and excessive maintenance. &nbsp;The ultimate avoidable downside is not having to prematurely retire (and even scrap) poor performing locomotives.Not all "new model" locomotives require extensive RGT verification. &nbsp;But for new locomotive market entrants featuring newly-designed or heavily-redesigned&nbsp;engines (or engines never before used in railroad service), new carbody or truck (bogie) designs or new technologies never before used in railroad service (such as propulsion batteries and fuel cells), the financial burden of an RGT fleet prior to commercial manufacturing can often be the deciding factor in a locomotive manufacturer's product succeeding or failing. &nbsp;Railroads do not tolerate poor-performing locomotives.For high-horsepower road-service locomotives, an RGT fleet may need to support the pre-production evaluation producing 30-to-50 "locomotive unit-years" of reliability data. &nbsp;The greater the infusion of new designs and especially new technologies, the greater the unit-years requirement. In order to achieve 30 unit-years of RGT shake down, a manufacturer may need to assemble (and make available to railroads for revenue service) a fleet of 15 pre-production locomotives to be operated and maintained for 2 years (producing 30 unit-years of RGT data) before commercial production begins. &nbsp;The authors believe that non-railroad testing in engineering test cells or at dedicated test facilities is no match for real-world operation and maintenance.&nbsp;

New Locomotives & Technologies: Reducing Operating & Market Failures Through Use of Aggressive Reliability Growth Testing (RGT)

Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/JRC/JRC2021/volume/84775

2021 Joint Rail Conference (JRC2021)

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