Western Railroad Discussion > Locomotive Analytics

I would love to hear someone expand upon how EMD's Uptime Suite and GE's SAS analytic programs have impacted locomotive maintenance, repair time intervals, and maybe, major repair avoidance. Do the carriers feel that the analytics programs are paying for themselves and are they getting good dependable data? We often hear about new innovative technologies but we don't get much information on their actual real world impact. Thanks, in advance. KDC

Not a rail but some experience with how analytics are used so I will chime in.

My guess is that the analytics could/should be used to predict things like, “at this tunnel in these conditions we get these failures” or “component X fails after Y miles”. I think, instead, it’s probably used more to say, “We have lots of failures or bad fuel consumption in this model of locomotive so let’s park those first when we have excess power.”

In general I think analytics have been an executive/management tool, with not as much adoption in impacting day-to-day planning and decision making as they could be.

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Jared Hamilton
Scott Depot, WV

At least 50 years ago, the SP started using oil and cooling water analysis to predict unusual wear and impending failures before they occurred.

The cooling water, engine and compressor lube oil was sampled quarterly, and sent to the lab. They looked for soot, fuel and oil in the water, various parts of the engines were plated with chrome and brass, etc.

When cast iron showed up in the lube oil, the roundhouse looked for damage in the cylinder liners. Brass showed connecting rod bearing problems, etc. Many crankshafts were chrome plated, which gave their own indication. Aluminum in the oil indicated a piston with a problem.

The oil was also checked for dilution from fuel and water. Soot (exhaust products) in the water indicated a cracked head.
G

New York Central started this back in the 50's under Alfred Perlman. I believe most roads have
adopted similar programs today.

Nick Tharalson,
Marion, IA