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Reliability Analysis of Switches and

Division of
Operation
and
Maintenance
Engineering

Crossings A Case Study in

Swedish Railway
Behzad Ghodrati, Alireza Ahmadi, Diego Galar
Division of Operation and Maintenance Engineering
Lule University of Technology, Sweden

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Division of
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Introduction
Railway complexity:
Mix of components
Working together

with different age

Minimize
maintenance
time

Maintenance be performed
Higher
Increase
near capacity limits
utilization
traffic

Time between asset

renewals be long enough
of capacity
volume
Minimize
unplanned
interruption

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Division of
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Introduction
The key goal is to achieve availability target
cost effectively.

Availability
Reliability

Maintainability

Supportability

To conduct reliability analysis:

Detail

failure and maintenance recorded data

Detail maintenance action done
Mission profile: duty cycle and environmental
characteristics

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RAMS
Reliability: Ability of an item to perform a required
function under given conditions for a given time
interval.

R (t ) e t

RAMS

Availability:
Ability of anmaintainability
item to be in a state
to safety)
(reliability,
availability,
and

Division of
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and
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perform a required function under given conditions

at a given instant of time or during a given time
interval, assuming that the required external
resources are provided.

Total time Times of repair

Total time

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Division of
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Switches
A railroad switch, turnout or set of points is a
mechanical installation enabling railway trains to be
guided from one track to another at a railway junction.

Name of switche in Swedish railway system: A-B-C-D (e.g.

EV SJ50 11 1:9),
A: type of switch (single, double)Check rail
B: type of railpanel
C: radius or length of switch blade
D: type of angle

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Division of
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Engineering

Switch and Crossing Elements

Ballast
Check rail
Cross over panel
Crossing
Fasteners
Heating system
Locking device
Rail
Rail joint (mostly protected rail joint)
Sleeper (bearer)
Snow protection
Switch blade
Switch blade position detector
Switch device (motor, gearbox,
coupling, bars, etc.)
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Sweden railway network

Division of
Operation
and
Maintenance
Engineering

Data collection and evolution

Number of registered failures
Jan. 2005 Dec. 2009
Age and location
of turnouts

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Switches with
numbers inferior to
50 was eliminated

Division of
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Division of
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Final available data

1047
7
failur
es

29676
failure
s

3375
failure
s

Take into account the 10 types of

turnouts generating most failures and
60 tracks of interest
16627 failures
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Division of
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Studied tracks and switches

9 (out of 60) focused track

Track
number

Type of track

124

Freight track

410

Commuter trians and some freight

414

Mixed passenger and freight

420

Mixed passenger and freight

512

Mixed passenger and freight

611

Mixed passenger and freight

811

Mixed passenger and freight

813

Mixed passenger and freight

912

Mixed passenger and freight

Tracks with more

failures with at
least 10
individuals asset
names and at
least 2 types of

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Division of
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10 types of turnouts
generating more failures

EV-SJ50-11-1:9
EV-SJ50-12-1:15
EV-SJ50-11
EV-UIC60-1200-1:18,5
EV-SJ50-12
EV-UIC60-1200-1:18,5
EV-UIC60-300 BL33
EV-UIC60-300-1:9
EV-UIC60-760
EV-UIC60-760-1:14
EV-UIC60-1200
EV-UIC60-760-1:15

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Data classification
Dividing into 2 seasons
COLD
from November to March
(5 months)
HOT
from April to October (7 months)

Dividing into 2 types of

tracks
nhsp
main track
ahsp
diverging track

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Subsystems affected by
failures Hot period

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Subsystems affected by
failures Cold period

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Comparison of subsystems with

more failures during the two
seasons

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Division of
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Data analysis tool

RDAT (Reliability Data Analysis Tool) software was developed
by Alstom and the University of Bordeaux (France), and deal
with highly censored field data which wasnt taken into
account properly with the already existing programs.
RDAT was used to estimate the reliability functions and failure
rates from field data
Four failure models have been implemented in RDAT:
exponential, Weibull, normal, and lognormal distributions.
To select the best model, a goodness-of-fit test is applied.
The maintenance quality is considered by a parameter
denoted Rho:

= 1 means that the maintenance quality is AGAN (the

maintenance operation is perfect).

= 0 means that the maintenance quality is ABAO (the

mission can continue but leaves the item with a reliability
corresponding to the age accumulated so far).

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RDAT software methodology

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Data analysis RDAT software output

70% of
cases
=1

AGAN maintenance

30% of
cases,
= 0,5-1

ABAO maintenance

Trafikverket (Swedish Railway Administration) maintenance

experts consulting:
ABAO model was considered
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Division of
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Data analysis RDAT software output

Instantaneous
failure rate
failure rate
shape
parameter

n

T

n
n

n ln T ln Ti
i 1

Instantaneous Mean Time

Between Failures

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Division of
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RDAT implementation and results

Growth factor Beta as a function of types of turnout and season and type
of track

<1
MTBF

Maybe the maintenance has improved in these 5

years (Case of infant mortality: many problems at
the beginning)
The organisation learned how to deal with failures
during 05/09
Other possible explanation:

For SJ50-11 switch point detectors taken out

(less failures)
Change of switch point detectors on the other

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Division of
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Maintenance
Engineering

RDAT implementation and results

Growth factor Beta as a function of types of turnout and season and type
of track

> 1 MTBF

Old equipment fails more > Maintenance is not

compensating the age of the turnout

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Division of
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RDAT implementation and results

Comparison between hot/cold
There are much more < 1 during COLD season,
better maintenance? More effective maintenance
during winter time?
There are much more > 1 during HOT season, worst
maintenance?
Is there any link with the number of failures
avery year?

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Division of
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Comparison between hot/cold

There is no relationship
between the number of
failures every year and
the improved or not of
the maintenance for
these years.

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RDAT results

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Values of and for different types of turnouts for the 9 tracks

Division of
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Example for tracks 124, 410 and 912 for main

track and SJ50-11

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RDAT results

Example for tracks 124, 410 and 912 for main

track and SJ50-11

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RDAT results

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RDAT results

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Availability

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Turnouts are in serie in a track

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Division of
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Conclusion
The RAMS analysis confirms the more failure in
Cold season than in Hot season
For tracks 124, 410 and 912

Failure rate decreasing during Cold season

Failure rate almost constant during Hot

season
Track 512, which has the lowest availability,
needs to be focused for improvement

The RDAT software is not taking into account

this parameter. However, it is possible to do a
covariate analysis including this factor.
On the most important failure contributors,
which are the switch blade position detectors,
switch devices, heating system in the cold
season, and switch blades

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