Locomotive industry: structure, facilities, composition and management methods

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Stable and safe operation of railway transport, which provides passenger and freight transportation, is impossible without the organization of a clearly structured train service system. The list of technological operations of this system includes not only repair and maintenance, but also in a comprehensive form the management of operational processes - including the connection of automatic devices.

Such an infrastructure is called a locomotive economy and at the current stage of development is undergoing a process of transformation into a more progressive form of organization with new and more efficient economic and technical methods of management.

Basic concepts

First of all, you should decide on the very concept of a locomotive. This is a traction railway transport that drives the wagon train. to locomotives,in particular, include thermal, steam, diesel and electric self-propelled railway machines. In many ways, the features of the power traction device of a particular locomotive determine the requirements for organizing maintenance points.

As for the locomotive economy, it is a multifunctional infrastructure focused on solving a wide range of technical and operational tasks from refueling a locomotive to its diagnostics, repair and temporary maintenance. Obviously, such functions cannot be solved without a specially organized technological complex of units and structures located on a specially prepared territory with reference to a working railway.

The place where this farm is located is also called the traction territory. The site for it is selected in advance - it should be an area with a flat terrain and a suitable topographic scheme, as well as technological capabilities for communication with main engineering communications.

What is included in the locomotive economy?

Regardless of the type of infrastructure serving locomotive railway equipment, it must contain sufficient production assets to carry out technological operations, thanks to which the correct functioning of transport can be maintained. The basis is linear buildings, which house equipment for repairs, departments of workshops, warehouses for storing inventory and fuels and lubricants, communicationdepartments, etc.

Platforms for technological operations

The organization of a locomotive economy is not complete without technological sections where the following operations are performed:

• Fuel set. Special points providing locomotives with fuel as an energy resource to support movement. As a rule, such points are located at depot stations, and only in the case of the use of solid fuel materials (firewood, peat), replenishment can be made at intermediate stations.
• Set of cleaning, lubricating and lighting products and materials. Also provided through the depot.
• A set of sand. Produced at main depots or at stations with revolving depots.
• Cleaning furnaces. In one form or another, the locomotive industry must have the means to periodically check and clean the accumulated ash and slag from the combustion chambers of the target transport.
• A set of water. Steam locomotives require regular refueling with water and tender tank capacities. The map with refueling points depends on the track profile and the characteristics of the locomotive itself.

Depot as the basis of the economy

Basic technological operations related to the preparation and maintenance of locomotives are carried out in the depot. This is a linear maintenance building or a complex of structures around which additional sites and means of preparing vehicles for work are arranged. In particular, depot employees clean the fuel system, refuel, inspect, repair and diagnose equipment.

Unlikefrom the wagon depot, locomotive parking of this type is provided with special rooms for equipment. In this case, equipment is understood as a complex supply of combustible, lubricating, cleaning and lighting devices and materials. There is also a special kind of negotiable depots.

If the main service stations are mainly focused on maintenance, then the turnaround points serve for temporary maintenance and technological processes that are not directly related to the tasks of the technical preparation of the locomotive. In such depots, for example, the direction of movement of the locomotive can change, etc.

Facilities as part of the farm

The most important building, which can be located both in the depot and in the format of a separate linear object, is the workshop. Almost all repair and restoration operations, as well as inspection and diagnostics, are performed on its basis. An own production facility of the locomotive economy can also be organized, which produces spare parts, tires, pipes, springs and other elements with consumables for railway transport.

Otherwise, the supply of spare parts from specialized manufacturers will be organized. In addition to buildings that are involved in the maintenance of locomotives, there are groups of service and utility facilities designed to maintain the operability of the main depot and its adjacent structures. These can be engineering and technical premises, warehouses, hangars, parking lots, administrative andtechnical and dispatch offices. In a separate order, infrastructure is being created to meet the needs of staff with hairdressers, canteens, showers, rest rooms, etc.

Construction and structural device of the economy

Operational processes within the locomotive and wagon facilities require the initial creation of the necessary construction base for the subsequent infrastructural improvement of the traction area. The basis of the site is formed by foundations - as a rule, a solid array of brickwork or reinforced concrete platform is used. Walls, floors and partitions are placed on this base. For example, floor coverings made of Metlakh tiles are laid in critical areas of the locomotive economy.

Under normal operating conditions, the underlying layer is treated by carefully compacting the soil and brick rubble. Engineering channels are also thought out in advance. Technological channels for inspecting locomotives have a depth of 1 m, and the sewerage is laid to the nearest cleaning well, and filtering barriers should also be installed along this path, focused on the special nature of the impurities contained in the effluents.

Locomotive power facilities

Ensuring the operation of many processes in the railway service infrastructure requires the connection of significant power traction. In this case, we are talking about supporting the function of repair machines, hoists, cranes, fans, pumping equipment, etc. This requires mechanical energy,generated by hydraulic and electric motors.

Complex structures and devices of the locomotive economy are provided with energy from thermal power plants - stations that locally generated energy in the required volumes. Until today, solid fuel materials are mainly used as the initial fuel raw material, but already in the form of pellets and other biological granules. When burned, they provide a high thermal output that ensures the operation of steam turbines, which, in turn, convert the energy of hot steam into mechanical work.

Home Management Systems

The management structure in the railway industry is based on the territorial-production principle of control over transport networks. With regard to the locomotive service system, a technological organizational function is distinguished that regulates various aspects of the management of labor, material and administrative resources.

From the point of view of the practical management of the locomotive economy, the following infrastructure control methods should be distinguished:

• Administrative planning. A strategy is being developed for the arrangement, maintenance of working condition and technological development of a particular farm, taking into account a certain resource base and performance requirements.
• Organizational. It is supposed to create a management structure with a clear definition of the hierarchy of services, departments and divisions that are responsible for the activities of the economy when performing certainfunctions.
• Operational. The lowest level of management, which comes down to the adoption of regular and freelance decisions during the operation of locomotives in the "field" conditions.

Conclusion

The railway is one of the most conservative modes of transport, but signs of technological advancement are also noted in approaches to servicing locomotives. In the infrastructure of Russian railways, this is mostly due to the introduction of automated control tools. For example, the Russian Railways locomotive sector, which is controlled by 16 road directorates, has a comprehensive automated control system.

This approach to doing business allows you to analyze the state of transport, plan repairs and manage logistics offline in an optimized format. This allows not only to reduce the costs of supporting a wide range of technical and operational operations, but also to set a completely different level of reliability and safety of traction railway equipment.