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Rail Vehicles: DR Siwale

The document discusses the railway rolling stock manufacturing industry in the United States. It is comprised of three segments: locomotives, rail cars, and parts manufacturers. Locomotives pull rail cars over long distances, while passenger rail vehicles travel at higher speeds over shorter distances. Freight rail cars are the most prevalent type of rolling stock and transport goods throughout North America. Demand for passenger rail cars is low in the US, with most being produced by foreign firms with assembly facilities in the country.

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89 views21 pages

Rail Vehicles: DR Siwale

The document discusses the railway rolling stock manufacturing industry in the United States. It is comprised of three segments: locomotives, rail cars, and parts manufacturers. Locomotives pull rail cars over long distances, while passenger rail vehicles travel at higher speeds over shorter distances. Freight rail cars are the most prevalent type of rolling stock and transport goods throughout North America. Demand for passenger rail cars is low in the US, with most being produced by foreign firms with assembly facilities in the country.

Uploaded by

levy
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RAIL VEHICLES

Introduction
DR SIWALE
INDUSTRY
• The U.S. railway rolling stock manufacturing industry is comprised of three principal
• segments: locomotives, rail cars, and parts manufacturers. In the United States,
• locomotives (figure 1) and rail cars (figure 2) primarily transport freight and raw
• materials and, to a much lesser extent, provide passenger rail service. The U.S. industry
• primarily manufactures locomotives and rail cars built to withstand the rigors of
• transporting heavy freight loads and raw materials over hundreds of miles. Passenger
• rail vehicles—locomotives, rail cars, and both diesel and electrical multiple units
• (DMUs/EMUs)—are built to withstand lighter usage and loads, but typically travel at higher
speeds. Locomotives (nearly all of which are diesel-electric in the United States)
• pull or push rail cars over rails between distant points, locally in switching yards, or in
• urban/suburban service.
• FIGURE 1 A typically configured diesel-electric locomotive
• DMUs, which use an onboard diesel engine for power, and
• EMUs, which use electricity from an external source to power one or more on-board
• electric motors, are typically employed in city transit systems (e.g., subways, metros ).
WHAT IS A TRAIN?
• A train is constituted by attaching a
locomotive/motive force to several rail cars or
EMUs.
Figure 1
• In a diesel-electric locomotive, the diesel engine drives an electric generator,
which in turn powers
• traction motors geared directly to the locomotive’s axles. This hybrid system
has been in use since the end of
• World War II and is the foundational type of motive power of all U.S.
locomotives. A major advantage over
• the steam engines in use during World War II is the ability for several diesel-
electric locomotives to be linked
• together and controlled by one engineer. This modular approach to motive
power resulted in lower cost to the
• railroads, as fewer employees could now move more passengers and freight by
using the correct amount of
• power for a given train. Lawless, “Diesel-electric Locomotive Engines & How
They Work,” 2002.
FIGURE 1 LOCOMOTIVE
LOCOMOTIVE
• By March 2011,there were three over-the-road locomotive manufacturers
headquartered in the United
• States. Electro-Motive Diesel, Inc. (EMD) and the Rail Products Division of General
• Electric, Inc. (GE) both produce locomotives chiefly for use in freight applications,
• whereas MotivePower-WABTEC principally builds passenger and yard locomotives.15
• These locomotives are used for long-distance work and built for constant speed rather
• than short runs to nearby stations. Four other companies—Brookville Equipment Corp.,
• National Railway Equipment Company, Progress Rail Services, and R.J.
• Corman/Railpower—primarily build yard or switching locomotives (table 1). Switching
• or yard locomotives move rail cars within the confines of rail yards. U.S. locomotive
• manufacturers are headquartered in Alabama, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, and
• Pennsylvania.
• 15
Table 1
Freight Rail Cars

• Freight rail cars are the most prevalent type of


railway rolling stock manufactured in the
• United States. They are designed to transport
goods and commodities throughout North
• America and are a vital part of the North
American freight logistics infrastructure
• (figure 2).
Frieght -box car
Gondola
Covered hopper car
Flat Car
Passenger Rail Cars
• Demand for passenger rail cars in the United
States is low (by 2011) and has not attracted
• U.S.-owned production. Foreign firms with a
history of building commuter, light- and
• heavy-rail cars have established domestic
assembly and production facilities to meet U.S.
• demand for passenger rail cars. Only one U.S.-
owned company, Oregon Ironworks,
• currently produces light-rail cars (table 4).
Table 4
Train energy ,power
Factors affecting rail transportation capacity
Rail versus truck
Rail 3 times energy efficient over truck
Resistances

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