Railway Technical Website ArchivePaper

RollingStockManufacturingby

PiersConnor1andPaulBerkeley

Firstcompiledin1999

IntroductionAll you wanted to know about how railway rolling stock is designed, manufactured,assembled,testedandshippedbutwereafraidtoask.MostofthispagewaswrittenbyPaulBerkley,whoalsosuppliedmanyof thephotographs,anditwastheneditedwithadditionalmaterialfromNickCory.

TheProcessRailwayrollingstockmanufacturingconsistsofaseriesofstageswhichbeginwiththesigningofanorderandculminateintheentryintoserviceofanewtrain.Thesestagesconsist of signing the contract, doing the design, ordering materials and parts,manufacturing and assembly, testing and delivery. It is a costly and time consumingbusinessandthereisalotofriskintheprocessbecausealotcangowrong.Apartfromthe technical difficulties of designing and building a complex, multi-million dollarproject, everyone wants to play trains and interfere with the design, especiallypoliticiansandnewspapereditors,bothofwhomhaveonethingincommon-theyknownothingaboutrailways.

TimescalesSoyouwanttobuyanewtrainorlocomotive?Howlongwillitbebeforeitiscarryingpassengersorhaulingcars?Well,giveyourself fouryearsfromthedateyoudecidetobuy.Itcanbedonemorequickly-anewlocomotiveorderintheUKwasoncefamousforhavingitsfirst locodelivered18monthsaftercontractsigning-but3or4yearsismoreusual.Here, I amassuming that it is anewdesign, not a run-onorder and thattherewillbeover80newvehicles.Iamalsoassumingthatyouknowhowmanytrainsor locomotives you need and what the general basic design will need to be. Theprocurementprocesswill occupyat least a year - longer if youneed finance from thecommercial market. For some information on costs and financing, try the RailwayFinancepageonthissite.

So let's say you give the supplier Notice To Proceed (NTP) a year after you go tomarket. The design process will have already begun, since the supplier will havepreparedaconceptdesignaspartofthebiddingprocess.BythetimehegetsNTP,hewillhavegot toa stagewithhis customerwhereheknowshe is thepreferredbidderandhewillhavestartedmoredetailedbasicdesignwork.

Sixmonths afterNTP,partsmanufacturewill start and, sixmonths after that the firstbody might be ready for installation of its equipment and interior finishes. Give itanother year for completion of equipping and a lot of testing before it is ready forshipping.Threeyearshavegonealreadyandthefirstcarhasstillonlyjustrolledoutofthe factory door. Acceptance testing on site and bureaucratic approvals may lastmonths(atleastayearintheUK)beforethetrainfinallyentersservice.Thereissome1PRCRailConsultingLtd.

OneofaseriesofarchivedpapersoriginallypublishedontheRTWPwebsite.

ArchivePaper RollingStockManufacturing

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slackinthisbroadoutlinebecauseIamsuretherewillbetechnicalproblemsonthewaybutwehaveusedupourfouryears.Locomotivesmaytakelessaseachonecanoperateasaunitandisn'tdependentonothervehicleslikeanEMU(ElectricMultipleUnit).

DesignThisiswhereitallbegins.Designworkstartsduringthebiddingprocess.Thecustomerwill issue an "invitation to tender" (ITT) and thenwait for the rush. Rush?Well, notquite.Itstartswiththesupplierproducinganoutlinedesign,whichispreparedagainstthe ITT and then costed. These days, most manufacturers have created their owncatalogueofvehiclesthattheywouldliketosellbecausetheycanbuildtopre-existingdesignsandofferthematamorecompetitiveprice.Thedesignsareofferedinmodularform so they can be customised to suit the buyer's needs. Unfortunately, a contract(particularly oneprocuredby apublicly-fundedadministration) is rarely as simple asthis and, usually, the potential customer will have produced a specification that hewants his vehicle designed to. Invariably, this will not fit conveniently into the littlenicheofstandarddesignsthatthesupplierhopeditwould.Ofcourse,thisputsthepriceup. Many customers are now trying to procure through performance specifications,wherethedimensions,capacity,speed,powerrequirementsandreliabilityarespecifiedrather than details like themake of door engines or colour of the upholstery for thedriver'sseat.Thisgivesthesupplierthechancetoadoptstandardisationinmanyareas,but many customers still fall into the trap of asking for a bespoke train and thenwonderingwhyitissoexpensive.

Now, let us assume that the preliminary design was accepted, a price agreed and acontract awarded. The engineering design office (henceforth referred to as the DO -originally short for drawing office)will now swing into action and start developing aplanforthedesignworkofthevehicle,whichwillincludeproducingaBillofMaterials(BoM) that will identify all the details necessary to manufacture the vehicle. ApreliminarylistofdrawingswillbetiedinwiththeBoMandtherewillprobablybeinexcess of 3000 drawings needed. Meetings will be held with the purchasing andproductiondepartmentstodetermineprioritiesforpreparationofdesigns.

Duringthebiddingphase,theDOwillcontactvarioussub-suppliersofbrakes,lighting,seats,propulsion,tractionmotorsetc.aboutthespecifications,todeterminewhocan,oriswillingtomeettheperformancerequirements.Ifyoulookatapieceofrollingstock,itis easy to see that the supplier is really just an assembler of many parts that arepurchasedfromothersuppliers.Perhapsallhehasisaspecialistshopformanufactureofthecarbodyshellandoneforthewiringlooms,andtherestofthevehicleisboughtfromsomeoneelse.Somecarbuilders,likeBrushTractionintheUK,evenbuycompletelocomotive body shells and bogies from external suppliers. However it is done, thevehicle design and assembly concept will eventually come together and somepreliminarydesigndrawingswillbeproducedforpresentationtothecustomer.

LongLeadOrderingIt isatthispointthatsomelongleaditemswillbeordered.Steel,sometypesat least,canhaveathree-monthleadtime,especiallyifyouwantaspecialfinishforanunpaintedvehicle.Cablescanrequireasixmonthleadtime,particularlyiftheyareofspecialfireproof or low toxicity specification. Car interior panels may also require specialistmaterialswithlongmanufacturingperiods.Ofcourse,onceyouorderthesethings,youarelockedintothedesign,soyou'dbetterbesureyougetitright.

JigsandTools

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Anotherareawhichneedstobesortedoutearlyisjigsandtools.Thecarbodypartswillhave to be assembled in jigs to ensure that they are held rigidly and in the correctpositionduringwelding.Thebodyshellitselfwillalsorequirealargejigtoassistintheassembly. Jigs cannotbedesigneduntil thebody form isknownand the constructionmethodsagreed.

Ajigisbasicallyeitherasteelbed,shapedtocarrythesectiontobewelded,oritaseries

of specially formed steel frames, upon which parts will be fixed while they arewelded.Thejigswillbefittedwithadjustableclampswhichwillholdeachpieceinitscorrectpositionforwelding.Jigscomeinallshapesandsizes,dependingonthepartorparts tobeassembledand theweldingsystemtobeused. Jigdesign isanart in itselfandmanyaprojecthasbeenasuccessorafailurebecauseofthequality,orlackofit,ofthejigs.

Some manufacturers have been known to try to cut back on the time or materialsallowedforjigdesignandmanufacture.Thisisalwaysanexpensivemistake.Ifthejigsarenotright,thecarbodywon'tberighteither.Itisasoberingthoughtthat,inthelast30 years, every new tube train LondonUndergroundhas haddeliveredhas not fittedintothetunnels.Onefleethadtoberebuilt.

Tools are another important item which can be forgotten. If any specialist tools arerequired - like dies for stamping steel parts, these must be properly designed andmanufactured to the highest standards. Specialist toolmakers are best for the job. Ihave seen shop floors littered with rejected stampings and pressings, thrown outbecausetheywerepoorlymadewithbadtoolsandthereforedidn'tfitweretheyweresupposedto.

ArchivePaper RollingStockManufacturing

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ManufacturingEngineeringTheearlydesignmeetingswillculminatewhentheschedulingdepartmentproducesaWorkBreakdownStructure(WBS),whichwillmapouthowthevehiclewillgothrougheach stage of manufacture and assembly to reach the final steps where it is

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commissioned anddelivered to the eagerly awaiting customer. TheWBSwill have tomatcha timeplan, thesubmissionofwhich is invariablypartofacontract thesedays,andwhichwill containmilestones in thedesignandmanufacturingprocesswhich thesuppliermustadhereto.Itwillalsoprovideconvenientpackagesforthedesignstafftoworkwithinsothatdrawings fortheproductionprocesscanbe issuedquickly forthefirstpartsneededforassembly.

If the DO has been lucky, they will find that they are able to get away with onlymodifying and updating some existing drawings and perhaps, if they are really lucky,only thedrawingnumberwillneed tobechanged.Ofcourse, life isnever thatsimpleandtherewillbepanicsandmuchheartsearchingasnewdesignshavetobedevelopedinthetimeframeagreedwiththecustomerandwiththeproductioncontrolpeople inthefactory.

ConfigurationControlOnce the DO finishes a package (a complete set of drawings for a specific item ofmanufacture), it is forwardedbyaConfigurationControl section to themanufacturingengineeringdepartment.Configuration control is responsible forensuring that all thedrawingsanddocumentsconnectedwith thecontractareregistered, submitted to thecustomer for approval, returned from the customer in time (they are often not),questions from the customer are answered, that the latest updates to drawings andinstructions are passed to the production control people and all correspondence isnotedandarchived.Itmaysoundbureaucraticbutitisessentialifallthepaperistobekeptuptodateandisretrievableifthereisanysortofdispute(andyes,therealwaysis).

Configurationcontrol isalsoaboutmonitoring theputting togetherof thevehicl