Stable and safe operation of the railway transport providing passenger and cargo transportation is impossible without the organization of a clearly structured train service system. The list of technological operations of this system includes not only repair and maintenance, but also integrated management of operational processes - including the connection of automatic devices.
Such an infrastructure is called a locomotive economy and at the current stage of development is undergoing a process of transformation into a more progressive form of organization with new and more effective economic and technical management methods.
Basic concepts
First of all, you should decide on the very concept of a locomotive. This is a traction railway transport, which drives a rolling stock. Locomotives, in particular, include thermal, steam, diesel and electric self-propelled railway vehicles. In many ways, the features of the power traction device of a particular locomotive determine the requirements for the organization of maintenance points.
As for the device of locomotive facilities, it is a multifunctional infrastructure focused on solving a wide range of technical and operational tasks from refueling a locomotive to its diagnostics, repair and temporary maintenance. Obviously, such functions cannot be solved without a specially organized technological complex of units and structures located on specially prepared territory with reference to the working railway.
The place where this economy is located is also called traction territory. The site for it is selected in advance - this should be a terrain with a flat topography and a suitable topographic scheme, as well as technological capabilities for communication with the main engineering communications.
What is included in the locomotive economy?
Regardless of the type of infrastructure serving the locomotive railway equipment, it should contain sufficient production assets to carry out technological operations, due to which the proper functioning of transport can be maintained. The basis is linear buildings that house repair equipment, workshop departments, warehouses for storing inventory and fuels and lubricants, communication departments, etc.
Platforms for technological operations
The organization of a locomotive economy is not complete without technological areas where the following operations are performed:
- Fuel kit. Special items providing locomotives with fuel as an energy resource to support movement. As a rule, such points are located at depot stations and only in the case of the use of solid fuel materials (firewood, peat) can replenishment be made at intermediate stations.
- A set of cleaning, lubricating and lighting products and materials. Also provided through depot.
- A set of sand. It is produced at major depots or at stations with negotiable depots.
- Cleaning the firebox. In one form or another, the locomotive farm should have the means to periodically check and clean up the accumulated waste and slag from the combustion chambers of the target transport.
- A set of water. Steam locomotives require regular refueling and tender tank capacities. A map with fueling points depends on the track profile and the characteristics of the locomotive itself.
Depot as the basis of the economy
Basic technological operations associated with the preparation and maintenance of locomotives are carried out at the depot. This is a linear building of maintenance or a complex of structures around which additional sites and means of preparing vehicles for work are arranged. In particular, the depot employees flush the fuel system, refuel, inspect, repair and diagnose equipment.
Unlike the carriage depot , locomotive parking of this type is provided with special facilities for equipment. In this case, equipment is understood as an integrated supply of fuel, lubricants, wipers, and lighting devices and materials. Allocate a special kind of working depot.
While the main service stations are mainly oriented towards servicing, the call points serve for temporary maintenance and technological processes that are not directly related to the technical preparation of the locomotive. In such depots, for example, the direction of movement of a locomotive can change, etc.
Facilities within the holding
The most important building, which can be located both in the depot and in the format of a separate linear object, is a workshop. Almost all repair and restoration operations, as well as inspection and diagnostics, are carried out on its basis. An own production facility of a locomotive farm can also be organized, on which spare parts, bandages, pipes, springs and other elements with consumables for rail transport are produced.
Otherwise, the delivery of spare parts from specialized manufacturers is organized. In addition to buildings that are involved in the maintenance of locomotives, there are groups of service and business facilities designed to maintain the health of the main depot and its adjacent structures. This can be engineering and technical premises, warehouses, hangars, parking areas, administrative and dispatch offices. In a separate order, infrastructure is created to meet the needs of personnel with hairdressers, canteens, showers, restrooms, etc.
Construction and construction device of the economy
Operational processes within the framework of locomotive and carriage facilities require the initial creation of the necessary construction base for the subsequent infrastructural improvement of the traction area. The base of the site is formed by foundations - as a rule, a solid array of brickwork or reinforced concrete platform is used. At this base are walls, floors and partitions. For example, floor coverings from metlakh tiles are laid in critical areas of the locomotive economy.
Under normal operating conditions, the underlying layer is treated by thoroughly compacting the soil and crushed stone. Engineering channels are also thought out in advance. Technological channels for inspecting locomotives have a depth of 1 m, and sewage is laid to the nearest treatment well, and filtering barriers should be arranged along this path, oriented to the special nature of the impurities contained in the effluents.
Locomotive Energy
The operation of many processes in the railway service infrastructure requires the connection of significant power traction. In this case, we are talking about supporting the functions of repair machines, hoists, cranes, fans, tubing equipment, etc. This requires mechanical energy generated by hydraulic and electric motors.
In a complex, the constructions and devices of the locomotive economy are provided with energy from heat and power plants - stations that locally generate energy in the required volumes. To date, solid fuel materials are mainly used as initial fuel raw materials, but already in the form of pellets and other biological granules. When burned, they give high thermal power, ensuring the operation of steam turbines, which, in turn, convert the energy of hot steam into mechanical work.
Household management systems
The management structure in the railway industry is based on the territorial-production principle of control of transport networks. In relation to the locomotive service system, a technological organizational function is allocated that regulates various aspects of managing labor, material and administrative resources.
From the point of view of the practical management of the locomotive economy, the following infrastructure control methods should be distinguished:
- Administrative planning. A strategy is being developed for the arrangement, maintenance of the working condition and technological development of a particular economy, taking into account a certain base of resources and performance requirements.
- Organizational. It is supposed to create a management structure with a clear definition of the hierarchy of services, departments and units that are responsible for the activities of the economy in the performance of certain functions.
- Operational. The lowest level of control, which boils down to the adoption of regular and non-staff decisions during the operation of locomotives in “field” conditions.
Conclusion
The railway is one of the most conservative modes of transport, however, signs of technological progress are noted, including in approaches to servicing locomotives. In the infrastructure of Russian railways, this is largely due to the introduction of automated control tools. For example, the Russian Railways locomotive farm, which is controlled by 16 road directorates, has a comprehensive automated control system.
Such an approach to conducting business activities allows in an optimized format to carry out an analysis of the state of transport, planning repairs and managing logistics in an autonomous mode. This allows not only to reduce the cost of supporting a wide range of technical and operational operations, but also to set a completely different level of reliability and safety of traction railway equipment.