Wagon Maintenance: How it's done and the risks of poor maintenance
In order for railroad trains to be able to continue their journey, without major accidents occurring, it is essential that companies recurrently check the conditions of the track and vehicles. In this sense, the practice of maintenance of railroad lines, rails, and especially the maintenance of wagons, is fundamental.
Wagons are the main compositions of freight trains, as they are the ones that store the inputs that are being transported on a railroad.
If it suffers from structural problems, regardless of the reason, these goods can be damaged, which can generate considerable losses for the companies involved. Furthermore, in more problematic cases, it can cause the train to derail.
There are different types of car maintenance, each of which works in a specific way and in different stages. The main types are:
- Unplanned corrective maintenance;
- Planned correction;
- Preventive;
- Predictive;
- Detective;
Next, we'll talk about how these maintenance items are sold in train cars, explaining how each one works. In addition, we will explain why these maintenances are so important and what the risks of poorly performed railcar maintenance are.
Content Index
Unplanned corrective maintenance
As the name implies, this type of maintenance takes place unexpectedly, that is, without planning. Still, it is a car maintenance that aims to correct any problem, especially in the structures of train cars.
Thus, when the company opts for this type of maintenance process, it is allowing the wagons to keep working until an internal or external problem occurs, requiring a more present action to correct the defect presented.
As it is an unplanned maintenance of wagons, the cost tends to be higher, as it only comes into action when there is already a formalized problem in the train wagons, which generates loss in productivity and the need to purchase and install new equipment and structures.
Planned corrective maintenance
Planned corrective maintenance, on the other hand, is based on the same assumption as the previous one: to carry out corrective actions on train cars or on the railroads, which suffered from some type of structural problem, caused by a series of reasons.
The big difference is that, in this model, companies have adequate planning so that it is not necessary to wait for something more serious to happen before acting.
This maintenance model is applied to include other types of maintenance for cars that we will talk about next, such as preventive and predictive.
Detecting possible problems that may occur in the train cars, mainly due to the wear of its composition, it is possible to apply a more adequate correction, without the need to extrapolate the expenses with new equipment.
Preventive maintenance
Preventive maintenance is based on prevention, that is, it is a maintenance of wagons that aims to prevent failures in the wagon systems, breakage of components and damage to the structure of the locomotive wagons.
For this to be executed well, planning is essential in this car maintenance model.
From a database and statistics on train compositions, understanding the durability of the materials, the working conditions of the trains, the mileage, and other aspects, it is possible to carry out a preventive maintenance plan, carrying out the necessary repairs in time to prevent more serious problems.
This can be a high or a low cost assessment, depending on how companies put together a plan and execute that plan. For this, it is essential to think about all the variations that can occur over time, especially during the journey of trains and the loading and unloading of goods
Predictive Maintenance
Predictive maintenance, on the other hand, is a model that acts more readily, in times of need. However, it is possible to understand when these moments will be, based on a firm and close monitoring of how the railroad trains process is going.
In this sense, by checking the daily conditions of the structure of the roads, which directly affect the quality of the wagons, a repair action can be determined to improve this quality.
In this way, it is possible to avoid unnecessary repairs and repairs, which increases the costs of the companies involved and harms the sequence of productivity of the locomotives.
Detective Maintenance
Finally, the last type of car maintenance is detective maintenance. As its name also indicates, this model seeks to detect problems and failures that are hidden and not easy to be seen during railroad train operations.
Even if they are not visible, these failures, if not verified correctly, can generate serious structural problems for the entire apparatus of the railroad train, especially for the wagons.
To detect these types of hidden problems, it is necessary to use the latest equipment, with modern technologies.
In addition, this process guarantees the reliability of these instruments used in maintenance, as it allows viewing the results that maintenance has obtained over time.
Risks of poor carriage maintenance
In any space, where structures of high functional complexity are used, such as train wagons, industrial machines, mechanized tools, among others, it is essential that the necessary maintenance in the structure of these mechanisms is performed, including at least some of the types of maintenance that we mention throughout the article.
However, when maintenance is performed in the wrong way, without the actions being well designed, there are some risks that can harm the companies involved.
First, as we have already discussed, for example, in preventive maintenance, if the data is not well prepared and evaluated, the costs with equipment and spare parts can become much higher. This is also true for all other types of railcar maintenance: poor maintenance, the higher the cost.
Furthermore, this can lead to more serious problems. We think like this: a train car needs structural maintenance.
Professionals go to the car, and perform specific maintenance. However, they ended up missing the necessary calculations, and this process was poorly executed.
In this way, they may have further damaged the composition of these cars, making it even more difficult to verify certain problems.
In these cases, this can lead to different types of problems, such as loss of goods from the wagons and even train derailment, as one wagon can move from another and trigger a total displacement of the vehicle.
Conclusion of Wagon Maintenance
We can conclude with the article that the maintenance of wagons is a fundamental process for the quality of railroad processes, regardless of the region or country. As we have seen, there are different types of maintenance, each being performed in a specific way. It is always important that railroad companies master all types of maintenance, and perform them efficiently, as there are some important risks that must be considered when maintenance is poorly performed.
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https://www.ufjf.br/engenhariadeproducao/files/2017/11/MarianaSilvaNassifBilheiro.pdf
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