M.Ing. / The aim of Spoornet is to provide a minimise predictable service. In order to provide a predictable service, it is necessary to move trains safely and effectively from the place of departure to their destination. The keywords here are safely and effectively. Although support functions such as infrastructure and train control procedures are vital in moving the train, the train or rolling stock as it is generally known, warrants some attention. Defects on the rolling stock are very costly to Spoornet. This is mainly due to the fact that a defect on the rolling stock that goes undetected can cause damage to the rolling stock and the infrastructure. This damage can eventually lead to derailments. Considering that a derailment can cost Spoornet millions of rand and cause delays to the services, it is only logical to spend time preventing derailments. It is for this reason that a workgroup was formed to investigate and solve the problem of defects causing derailments and delays by developing an early warning system. The need for an integrated train condition monitoring system became apparent when considering an early warning system. The objectives of the integrated train condition monitoring system are to provide train condition information to different users, and alarms on detection of emergency or dangerous conditions. Various train defects that may cause damage or derailments were identified. One of them being a flat wheel on a rail vehicle. A flat wheel is characterised by the flattening of the wheel on one or more positions on its circumference, so that the wheel does not have an even and completely round profile. Flat wheels are mostly caused by the wheels of a vehicle becoming locked during braking, and sliding along the rail track. The friction created by this action grinds a flat spot on the wheel. The flat wheel leads to a decline in the riding quality of the rolling stock and a rise in the levels of vibration and noise is evident. But more importantly, the flat spot causes the wheel to roll unevenly, creating impacts on the rail on some points. It is these impacts that can cause damage to the rail and the rolling stock. Depending on the length of the flat spot, the vehicle type and speed, the stresses may be sufficient to cause final failure of the rail or initiate fatigue cracks in the rail. Severe flat wheels are a safety hazard and can in some cases, cause derailments and consequent delays to trains. Smaller flat spots contribute to track deterioration and so increase maintenance costs by damaging the rails, sleepers and ballast. Flat wheels can thus be very costly to Spoornet and its public image. In addition to safety and economic considerations, wheel flats reduce the comfort levels in the passenger coaches and the noises they make is annoying. In an attempt to restrict the damage caused by flat wheels, most railway administrations place a limit on the length of the flats that may stay in service. But to effectively find a flat wheel on rolling stock is currently a very expensive exercise. Flat wheels can be detected by an audible knocking sound when standing next to the rail. This sound is impossible for the driver to hear and therefore goes undetected. Normally flat wheels are detected by random inspection of the rolling stock or when they are brought in for a routine service. The service cycle on rolling stock can be up to 24 months in Spoornet. Considering that a flat wheel has an impact roughly every 3m, a serious flat generates roughly 160 000 impacts on a single trip on the coal heavy haul export line. It is therefore clear that a flat wheel can cause a considerable amount of damage between service cycles. The severity of the problem is however not accurately defined in Spoornet, because up to a few months ago there was no detection system in use to determine the distribution of flat wheels. The research department of the Deutsche Bundesbahn however considers rail fractures due to the flat wheels to be a serious problem with a significant annual replacement cost. There are thus sound safety and economic reasons for wishing to understand the mechanisms of flat wheels and to develop an early warning system using an automatic detector.

Thesis (MEng)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The demand for rail travel has increased over the years. As a result, it is becoming mandatory for railway industries to maintain very high availability of their assets to ensure that service levels are high. Railway industries require both their infrastructure and rolling stock assets maintained efficiently to sustain reliability. There has been on-going research on how maintenance can be carried out in a cost effective manner. However, the majority of this research has been done for infrastructure and the rolling stock maintenance has not been properly covered. The purpose of this research is to contribute to the maintenance sector of rolling stock for railway industries by developing a decision support model for rolling stock based on reliability and cost. The model is developed as an optimization problem of a system containing several components dependent on each other with different reliability characteristics. In this model, a mixed integer nonlinear problem is developed and solved using an exact method and metaheuristics methods. The Metrorail facility in Cape Town was chosen as a case study. Failure history and cost data were gathered from the facility and the information was applied to the model developed. The case study was investigated and different results were achieved using both exact and metaheuristics methods. The final result from the study is an optimal maintenance schedule based on reliability and cost. The developed model serves as a practical tool railway companies can adopt to schedule rolling stock maintenance to achieve a high level of reliability and at the same time maintaining minimum cost expenditure. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die vraag na spoorvervoer het oor die jare toegeneem. Dus het dit belangrik geword dat die spoorweg se bates hoogs toeganklik moet wees om te verseker dat die vlak van dienslewering hoog bly. Die spoorweg industrie besef dat hulle infrastruktuur, lokomotiewe, waens ens. effektief in stand gehou moet word sodat dit betroubaar kan wees. Navorsing word nog steeds gedoen oor hoe instandhouding op ’n koste-effektiewe wyse gedoen kan word. Die meeste van hierdie navorsing gaan egter oor infrastruktuur en instandhouding word nie ordentlik gedek nie. Die doel met hierdie navorsing is om by te dra tot die instandhoudingsektor van die spoorweg deur om ’n besluit-ondersteunende model vir lokomotiewe, waens, ens wat op betroubaarheid en koste gegrond is, te ontwikkel. Die model is ontwikkel as ’n optimasie probleem van ’n sisteem wat verskillende komponente wat van mekaar afhanklik is maar oor verskillende betroubaarheidskenmerke beskik, inluit. In hierdie model word ’n gemengde, heeltal nie-lineêre probleem ontwikkel en met ’n eksakte metode en metaheuristiese metodes opgelos. Die Metrorail fasiliteit in Kaapstad is vir die gevalle studie gekies. Die geskiedenis van mislukkings en koste data is by die fasiliteit versamel en die inligting is op die model wat ontwikkel is, toegepas. Die gevalle studie is ondersoek, en verskillende resultate is met eksakte en metaheuristiese metodes bereik. Die finale uitkomste van die studie is ’n optimale instandhoudingskedule wat op betroubaarheid en koste gegrond is. Die model wat ontwikkel is dien as ’n praktiese instrument wat spoormaatskappye kan gebruik om die instandhouding van lokomotiewe, waens ens. te reël sodat ’n hoë vlak van betroubaarheid bereik kan word en kostes terselfdertyd tot ’n minimum beperk kan word.