And I've Been Working on the Railroad...

For many years I was in aerospace and defense industries as a Reliability, Maintainability, and Safety (RAMS) Engineering Specialist, so now "I've Been Working on the Railroad" as the song goes.

Simple Summary

My boss (licensed train conductor) and I performed a 400 page Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) for a major US Class I Railroad. I learned a lot about the transportation industry from this effort. No other Class I railroad has ever performed a complete FTA for nine hazard top event scenarios.

Consider this a supplement to my previous blog

In early 2016, I had many calls about aerospace and defense contract work. Then several interesting calls from around Washington DC, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, New York, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, and regarding rail transportation. So I flew and drove to a few interviews. But the one interview that I took the bus to, was the interview I won a RAMS engineering contract with.

The job entails the review of Positive Train Control RAMS requirements for a large Canadian Class I railroad who has operations in the United States of America.

A funny thing during the interviews, many transportation firms would say "you have no train experience". I found that both true and odd because now I do have that experience and it didn't really take that long of a time to do get rail experience. Even more interesting even as complex as a large rail network is, the aircraft industry is actually several magnitudes more complex from a safety engineering perspective. However, in any industry, due diligence is imperative especially with regard to safety engineering. The RAMS engineering principles could be applied to any industry especially now that I have been doing this type of work since 1979 at Texas Instruments.

About Positive Train Control (PTC)

The Positive Train Control (PTC) is a U.S. Government-regulated initiative for railroads to mitigate potentially catastrophic events caused by human error. It is a suite of technologies that work in conjunction with existing methods of train operations, designed to automatically stop a train before an accident occurs. It is designed to prevent train-to-train collisions, derailment caused by excessive speeds, unauthorized train entry into a section of track where repairs are being made, and the movement of a train through a switch left in the wrong position. PTC is composed of four major components: wayside technology, onboard locomotive controls, back-office systems and communication networks. These components work together to ensure a continuous flow of information from both wayside and back-office systems to the on-board controls. PTC hasn’t been delivered yet and is currently at various stages in the development life cycle. 

PTC Graphic

(courtesy of Union Pacific (UP) from the internet)

Positive Train Control (PTC) is an advanced system designed to automatically stop a train before certain accidents occur. In particular, PTC is designed to prevent:

• Train-to-train collision
• The derailment caused by excessive train speed
• Train movement through misaligned track switches
• Unauthorized train entry into work zones.

PTC will not prevent vehicle-train accidents at grade crossings, or those due to track and equipment failures.

The Positive Train Control (PTC) is an Unprecedented Technological Challenge (extracted from the Association of American Railroads)

• A properly functional PTC system must be able to determine the precise location, direction, and speed of trains:

1. Warn train operators of potential problems.
2. Take immediate action if the operator does not respond to the warning provided by the PTC system. For example, if a train operator fails to begin to stop a train before a stop signal or slowing down for a speed-restricted area, the PTC system would apply the brakes automatically before the train passed the stop signal or entered the speed-restricted area.
3. Such a system requires highly complex technology to be capable to analyze and incorporate the huge number of variables that affect train operations. A simple example: the length of time it takes to stop a freight train depends on train speed, terrain, the weight and length of the train, the number and distribution of locomotives and loaded and empty freight cars on the train, and other factors. A PTC system must be able to take all of these factors into account automatically, reliably, and accurately in order to safely stop the train. 

The Job

For a while there I even performed some system engineering type work on environmental specification regarding PTC Onboard Locomotive Electronics Systems (LOBES). The suppliers are contractually obligated to comply with all the EMI, physical shock, temperature, vibration, etc. There are about twenty different suppliers who must comply with extreme physical parameters on the LOBES from the hot bayou in Louisiana all the way up to the subarctic prairie tundra in Minnesota (and beyond).

As an engineering professional, my role is to evaluate the Railroad Safety Program Plan (RSPP). The RSPP is the strategic safety planning documentation for the development of safety-critical processor-based signal, safety-critical systems, and train control systems.

Established RAMS Supplier Management to continuously improve Supplier RAMS objectives. Identify and then resolve supplier noncompliance issues. Use Failure, Reporting, and Corrective Action System (FRACAS) field tracking data to determine compliance to contractual agreed RAMS target objectives (to compare 'as designed' to 'as-built' failure rate data). Review Rail Positive Train Control (PTC) fault-tolerant capability through both quantitative and qualitative:

? System Analysis

? Prediction Modeling

? Test Case Definition.

I got to get back to my Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) and Failure Mode and Effects Analysis. Toward the end of the year, I will perform setup of the Failure Reporting, Analysis, and Corrective Action System (FRACAS).

Some of our RAMS analyses are to be shared with some other US Class I Railroads.

Chicago

BTW - I love my job. I have got to meet some great folks in the Chicago area along with the people here at HQ in Montreal...

Montreal (c'est bon)

At my Montreal Office (summer look)

My Career Projects

Yes, I have worked on a few engineering projects.

My Career as a RAMS Engineer

Visit my profile:

https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/jimdurling/

Connect with me at: < [email protected] > for professional reasons only.

BTW - I am an independent freelance consultant and not an employer. I get a ton of email messages asking for a job. My tip is to go to the website of employer you want to work at rather than individuals such as me with no hiring capability,

At my Montreal Office winter look)

Thanks for reading my blog and have an incredibly good day...

?Disclaimer: Any opinion offered by me in this blog is my opinion and not the opinion of my client firm. Contact me, if you like or don't like what I say, not my employer.