Car Insurance

One of the most exciting recent developments is the expanded capability to measure the performance of freight cars as they roll down the track. I call this “dynamic car measurement” because it measures the action of the car as it operates, as compared to inspection of the individual components in a static environment. Though hot bearing and dragging equipment detectors have been around for a generation, these devices detect car components that have already failed. Recently, devices that measure car performance in a predictive way have become available. Their further development and deployment has great promise for rail safety, car and track maintenance, lading loss and damage, and even regulatory reform.

Since the 1970s, track geometry cars (and, more recently split-axle gauge restraint measurement cars) have been able to measure track under load to see how it behaves during the passage of a train. Valuable information from those automated testing programs went a long way toward improving track safety. Car inspection, on the other hand, relies almost entirely on visual inspection of standing cars, and the standards applied are aimed at the structural integrity of the car and its key components (flange thickness, structural cracks, etc.). Those standards generally don’t address the systemic performance of a car in motion. Dynamic car

Among the dynamic measuring devices now available to railroads, the most common is the WILD (wheel impact load detector). There are many of these deployed, and they regularly find wheels too flat to prudently or even safely continue to operate. It’s not a large percentage of the wheels inspected, but it is enough to make a difference in bearing maintenance and rail integrity.

TPDs (truck performance detectors) now measure the steering ability of the car. This new technology will go a long way toward improving the safety of trains negotiating curves and turnouts, the two places where most derailments occur.

Ride quality monitors (an accelerometer placed on a car, with g-force thresholds set, and a real-time link through GPS to a processing center to analyze location, speed, and type of force on the car–lateral, vertical, longitudinal) now can measure more conditions, more accurately, and locate them more precisely than the earlier versions used in loss and damage prevention. Ride quality is a combination of whatever the track is doing and how the car is reacting to the track it’s riding on. A pilot program I ran showed that both track and car were factors: Track and car conditions that were well within the existing safety and maintenance standards could nevertheless create a rough ride at a given location. Analyzing this data showed that valuable insight could be gained into the performance of an individual car. In one example, in an 18-month-long study of eight high mileage cars, 89% of all the lateral exceptions recorded were recorded on one car. In another, a single car in a unit train was experiencing excessive loss and damage. When equipped with a monitor that gave insight into its behavior, a $400 repair to one of the trucks eliminated the problem.

Acoustic beating detectors show real promise in predictive assessment of bearings so that incipient failures can be dealt with before they actually occur.

The INTERRIS (Integrated Railway Remote Information Service) program being deployed by the AAR to share information among beating detectors on all railroads is another step forward in proactive, predictive car performance measurement.

For years, railroaders have dreamed of having performance standards rather than design criteria–visual specifications that currently form the basis of FRA standards. Performance standards can help cull out “bad actors” before they cause trouble, leaving “good actors” in service. Dynamic car measurement is a giant step toward that end. If beatings show no hint of failure, if wheels are round, if the car steers adequately, and if the ride quality for the class of service is satisfactory, then the car is a good car. If not, repairs should be made in a timely fashion, performance being the main criteria.

It will take a lot of effort and arm-wrestling to get to that ultimate vision. There are many stakeholders, including private car owners, and there is still much difference of opinion about proper thresholds to attach to the term “acceptable performance.” Point is, these measurement capabilities are here and now, they are affordable, and the information can be used today to make safer, better, more competitive railroads.