International Journal of Emerging Trends in Engineering and Development Issue 3, Vol.

1 (January 2013)
Available online on http://www.rspublication.com/ijeted/ijeted_index.htm ISSN 2249-6149

Strategic analysis for reliability of diesel locomotives of Indian

Railways

Awadhesh Kumar Ahirwar #1, Dr.M.K.gour #2, Abhishek Khare#3

#1 Department of Mechanical Engineering, M.I.T.S.Gwalior, India, 07869028748
#2 Department of Mechanical Engineering, M.I.T.S.Gwalior, India, 09425020318
#3 Department of Mechanical Engineering,IIT Mumbai,India
ABSTRACT:
Diesel locomotives is an important part of Indian Railways which is evident from significant
data related to electrified root, number of passenger, train allotted to diesel shed, number of
diesel locomotives and expansion of maintenance shed. Due to the high costs of these assets,
their operational reliability needs to be ensured for efficient and effective exploitation of
these huge machineries. Failures are the most important aspect maintenance of diesel
locomotives. In such a large system of maintenance, scientific management is an essential
aspect. This requires uniform understanding and approach towards record keeping and
analysis related to reliability. In absence of such uniformity in approach, the system fails in
communication of failures and planning reliability to the root level of workmanship. A
uniform understanding is desired at every level to flatten the communication space, thus,
reducing misunderstanding and making the system efficient. This is the very basic to any
industrial organization. This is first time when a study has been carried out on the reliability
of diesel locomotives in Indian Railways to conclude into practically useful approaches for
system record and database of failures, the concept of locomotive system theory, and
strategic analysis of failures. This paper proposes a system of recording of most commonly
used parameter of reliability i.e. line failures. It includes various aspects related to failures for
a comprehensive record. It suggests three stages of recording: reporting, investigation, and
assessment. Looking on the various advantages, the study also recommends computerization
of the database of the failure which shall be useful in the analysis. In this paper a detailed
failure data analysis was performed to identify various critical components of the locomotive
assembly. The paper also recommends a hierarchical system of analysis of failures which can
be utilized for strategy and decision making.

Key words: - Diesel locomotive, Reliability, Maintenance, System, Recording, Perato

principle.

INTRODUCTION
Indian Railways is the most important mode of transport in India and Diesel Locomotives are
most important mode of traction in Indian Railways. The sufficient availability of traction is
essential for smooth running of train services without loss of punctuality and compromise
with safety and comfort. Diesel locomotives are serving several sections of Indian Railways
since 1960's and now the technology and methodology of their maintenance seems to be
saturated except induction of advance technological innovations like microprocessor
locomotives, high horse power locomotives etc. The cost of ALCO type locomotive is
estimated to around Rs 7 crore while that of latest technology EMD type locomotive is Rs 15
crore [1]. Therefore, the reliability of these high cost assets is essential for their best use on
line and minimum detention in maintenance facility. The unavoidable, unnecessary and idle
movements need to be minimized for their optimum utilization to run the train services.
Unfortunately, due to huge size of the system, out of course repairs, insufficient research
initiatives, inefficiencies in procurement of material and recruitment of staff, and so many
untouched reasons, the reliability of diesel traction is badly affected.
Page 491
International Journal of Emerging Trends in Engineering and Development Issue 3, Vol.1 (January 2013)
Available online on http://www.rspublication.com/ijeted/ijeted_index.htm ISSN 2249-6149

Following factors motivate to look into the strategic analysis for reliable maintenance of
diesel locomotives in Indian Railways

(1) International scenario of supply and price of energy in terms of diesel and nuclear power
(2) Requirements of operational reliability of diesel locomotives in Indian Railways
(3) Possible failure of power grids, as happened in the last week of July 2012 when northern
and eastern grids were failed and whole of the northern part of the country was stabled. In
such case, only option of diesel traction could serve trains on line.
(4) Competition with other modes of traction, electric locomotives in several aspects
(5) Investigations has shown that one locomotive earns Rs 1.7 Lakh/per day. Therefore,
enhanced availability through reliable maintenance can increase the revenue of Indian
Railways.
(6) The losses due to detention of one locomotive can be seen in direct and indirect losses in
punctuality of passenger trains and speed of freight services. This cannot be estimated in
monetary terms, but these are not compromisable.
(7) Cost effectiveness of these costly assets of traction. An ALCO type diesel locomotive
costs around Rs. 8 crore while a new technology EMD High Horse Power Locomotive costs
around Rs 18 crore [1]. If these costly assets are dead, this much money is dead, which can be
huge loss to the organization. In this sequence, reliability of diesel locomotive seems to be
the most important performance index, which in turn, depends upon the strategic approaches
being employed for the maintenance of diesel locomotives in diesel sheds. The administration
and management from superior to lowest levels are trying to optimize the quality in given
circumstances and limited resources. For this, it becomes pertinent to see the approaches
being made and the critical points being missed by the organization in orienting the
maintenance towards optimum reliability. In view of the characteristics and working scenario
in diesel sheds of Indian Railways, the opportunity of strategic analysis seems to be an
essential aspect to be realized immediately. The system needs initiatives for improvements in
reliability aspects in maintenance through strategic action. It shall inculcate a feeling of
confidence in the planning and decision making regarding failures of locomotives and out of
course repairs. The information asked from higher ranks is just to closely monitor whether
the field unit is working properly. The inspections are made by higher ranks officials to
personally ensure the working system and build a feedback on it. If the system is improved
through strategic analysis, it shall give a confidence to the staff of diesel shed and in turn to
the monitors. This dissertation is motivated by above facts and initiates the research in this
area. The presented work concentrates and proposes very useful systematic approach for
dealing with the failures locomotive and subsequently planning a preventive action and
fulfilling the expectations of superior levels. The thesis has coined a name for the presented
system of Strategic Analysis for Reliability as “SAR", which has literary meaning in Sanskrit
as “saransh”.

1.1 Objective of the work

As the title suggests and discussed above, the present study should basically provide a
standard approach for strategic analysis of failures for continuous improvement in the
reliability of diesel locomotives in Indian Railways. The approach should consider the basic
design considerations of simplicity, easiness, acceptability, uniformity, flexibility,
adaptability in IT applications, saving of resources, implementable in presently available
limited resources. To accomplish the above objectives, it is vital to collect sufficient and
conclusive background information, relevant statistics, design considerations and
understanding about the effect of maintenance resources. As such, Indian Railways being a
government organization, there exists no related literatures or research papers to start with.

Page 492
International Journal of Emerging Trends in Engineering and Development Issue 3, Vol.1 (January 2013)
Available online on http://www.rspublication.com/ijeted/ijeted_index.htm ISSN 2249-6149

During the study, full efforts have been made to get as much as possible relevant information
with genuine sources. To validate the scheme of proposed strategic analysis, its
demonstration is essential in the practical application. Due to various limitations in Indian
Railways, the field data cannot be directly used as input, therefore, based on the various
surveys in the field, an arbitrary data has been generated for the demonstration. The thesis
proposes a systematic approach for reliability oriented strategic analysis of locomotive
failures which can be applied to all the three levels of monitoring. Before presenting the
contribution of present study, it is essential here to enlist the basic principles learnt from the
observations. The present study considers organizational characteristics and principles of
industrial engineering and management to design a pattern for Strategic Analysis for
Reliability (SAR) of diesel locomotives in Indian Railways. Based on the presented study and
understanding about the requirements of the organization, the following considerations are
identified to be kept in mind during the design of the strategic analysis for reliability.

(1) The approach should be simple, easily acceptable and uniform so that it can be easily
applied on field and can be understood by the staff in present qualification and aptitude.
(2) The approach should be flexible in nature i.e. which can be modified and updated looking
on the day to day advances in technology.
(3) The approach should be adoptable in feasible maintenance information systems as an
application of information technology in future.
(4) The approach should be based the analysis of factual data only that can be recorded in real
time.
(5) The approach should be able to ease the understanding of trends of reliability by its
recognizable definition.
(6) The approach should provide a strategic plan for continuous improvements in reliability.
(7) The approach should be efficiently utilizing the presently available limited resources, thus
increasing their effectiveness.

(Times New Roman, Font size:12 ,Justify aligned, paragraph :single spacing)Bacopa is a
genus of 70 - 100 aquatic and palatial herbs belonging to the family plantaginaceae,
distributed throughout the warmer regions of the world [1].

1. DESIGN STRATEGY FOR RELIABILITY ANALYSIS

After a comprehensive study and survey, it is observed that the top-most concern of Indian
Railways is the reliability of its traction and rolling stock. As for as diesel traction is
considered, it is the dominant mode of traction in Indian Railways, and each layer of the
diesel shed organization, including the top management officials, are concerned about the
reliability of diesel locomotives. This section describes various issues to be considered in
designing the strategy for the analysis. It presents major aspects and terminology of working
in a diesel shed organization and subsequently enlists the various factors of motivation for
this study and defines the objective.

2.1 Measure of Reliability

A reliable and safe process of passenger and freight train services is determined by efficient
application of technical maintenance and repair systems, as well as strict work and
technological discipline [2]. For this, maintenance facility need a transformation to be
managed with relevant considerations of critical factors related to effective use of the
resources and business strategy. This paper presents managerial actions required on
maintenance for achieving desired availability and reliability of the locomotive output. It is
very important for any organization to review the efficiency of the established system for its

Page 493
International Journal of Emerging Trends in Engineering and Development Issue 3, Vol.1 (January 2013)
Available online on http://www.rspublication.com/ijeted/ijeted_index.htm ISSN 2249-6149

continuous improvement through scientific methods to meet the external requirements and
expectations. To check this aspect, every organization sets and monitors some parameters.
Similar system also exists in the various layers of the diesel shed organization in Indian
railways. Reliability may be defined as the probability of an equipment (Diesel locomotive
complete or a component or sub-assembly) to perform its purpose for the adequately period
of time intended under the operating conditions encountered [3]. High degree of reliability is
the need of hours as there is too much stakes in terms of human life, cost and time to take any
risks. To monitor reliability of the diesel locos, the operation interruption caused due to
Diesel locomotive troubles is recorded in the three layers of organization

2.1.1 Statistical Failures

Any loco which is unable to work its booked train up to destination or suffers detention 30
min in coaching trains or more (20 min in case of Shtabadi and Rajdhani Express trains) or
60 min loss in block section of goods train on account of Diesel loco trouble is termed as
statistical failures (ST). These Failures are reported to Railway Board & on monthly basis.

2.1.2 Failures in Zonal Bulletins

If loco gets under repair after completing its journey and not available for return trip or train
loco after major schedule, failures in departmental services, overdue schedule for more than
24 hours, loco loss due to bad weather or poor visibility, shortage of fuel, cattle run over etc
termed as non-statistical failures (NST). The zonal bulletin covers all ST as well as NST
failures on monthly basis.

2.1.3 Setouts
In order to provide a high degree of reliability, every line message is important for the
purpose of intro - inspection and failures analysis to make an effective action plan to curb
these failures. Thus, these messages do not have any adverse effect on operation but very
important for the base shed. These massages are termed as setouts, irregularities, or
messages. Obviously, this list is inclusive of all ST and NST failures on monthly basis.

2.2 Pareto's Principle

In 1906, Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto [4] created a mathematical formula to describe the
unequal distribution of wealth in his country, observing that twenty percent of the people
owned eighty percent of the wealth. In the late 1940s, Dr. Joseph M. Juran inaccurately
attributed the 80/20 Rule to Pareto, calling it Pareto's Principle. While it may be misnamed,
Pareto's Principle or Pareto's Law as it is sometimes called, can be a very effective tool for
effective management. After Pareto made his observation and created his formula, many
others observed similar phenomena in their own areas of expertise. Quality Management
pioneer, Dr. Joseph Juran, working in the US in the 1930s and 40s recognized a universal
principle he called the “vital few and trivial many" and reduced it to writing. In an early
work, a lack of precision on Juran's part made it appear that he was applying Pareto's
observations about economics to a broader body of work. The name Pareto's Principle stuck,
probably because it sounded better than Juran's Principle. As a result, Dr. Juran's observation
of the “vital few and trivial many", the principle that 20 percent of something always are
responsible for 80 percent of the results, became known as Pareto's Principle or the 80/20
Rule. Chapter 5 figure 5.2, 5.3and 5.4 show Pareto diagram for diesel locomotive assembly
failure data.

Page 494
International Journal of Emerging Trends in Engineering and Development Issue 3, Vol.1 (January 2013)
Available online on http://www.rspublication.com/ijeted/ijeted_index.htm ISSN 2249-6149

2. FAILURE RECORDS
Failure report describes all the details related to a failure of locomotive. It also includes
details of failure component and subsequently taken preventive action and its compliance.
Presently, the failure investigations are limited in finding out the initial observations and
detailed findings [5]. The desired failure analysis for preventive action requires failure
investigation in very clear aspects, uniform standards, and integrated approach. To ease the
understanding, the presented approach for line failures and out of course repairs is shown
schematically in figure. Every failure of locomotive should contain following basic elements
or stages.
(1) Reporting
(2) Investigation
(3) Ownership
This is described in following diagram

Fig. 3.1: Flow chart for Failure Records

If a computerized system is adopted for recording of above details using codes, the analysis
of incidences should be carried out to investigate the major contributors of failures on various
attributes. In this, Pareto's principle shall be applicable to segregate the failures into ABC
groups. These elements of failure report are described in following headings.

3.1 Reporting
When a loco pilot running the locomotive faces problem in locomotive it is his duty to
troubleshoot it. When he is unable to do so, he reports the abnormality in locomotive as
failure message to power controller in respective division. The control room or ALF office
receives the message of failure consisting of following elements.
(1) Loco No.
2) Load (Train No., Freight Load)
3) Location (Block-Section, Station, Division, Railway, Gradient)
(4) Line Message
(5) Description of Failure (Events)
Along with other details, the description of failure is also reported on the
Repair Book of the locomotive kept during running.

3.2 Investigation
The technical investigation of failure may be considered to be in following four sub-stages:

Page 495
International Journal of Emerging Trends in Engineering and Development Issue 3, Vol.1 (January 2013)
Available online on http://www.rspublication.com/ijeted/ijeted_index.htm ISSN 2249-6149

3.2.1 Before Arrival

The technical investigation of the failure starts from the receipt of message itself. People
starts asking about the schedules (due and done), previous history and out of course repairs,
trends of health indicators (tale tell signs and operating parameters). The trends of following
details must be examined from the failure message itself when the locomotive is on-line
(1) Health indices
(2) Last work done
Health indices of a locomotive include various measurable parameters. These can be grouped
also operational indices and maintenance indices. Operational parameters include BAP, FOP,
and Water Temperature etc, which are basically reported by drivers in repair book kept in the
locomotive itself. Maintenance indices include the parameters measured during or after the
maintenance. This can also include BAP (if load text is carried out), HTIR, LTIR, CCV, FOP
etc.

3.2.2 on Arrival
On arrival of failure locomotives, all the information collected before its arrival should be
used to investigate the failure. The driver's repair book is studied and its abstract is included
into the failure message. The failure locomotive is investigated visually in dead condition
itself to identify the reason of failure as earliest as possible. It is because, superior levels are
eager to know the reason of failure, and there seems to be a competition in giving the
information as earliest as possible. The arrival date and time need to be recorded in failure
message to know the time taken by traffic in sending the failure locomotive to its base shed.

3.2.3 on Platform
Based on the priority, the failure locomotive is given a placement in the platform for its
thorough examination through initial testing like procedure or even an in-depth investigation
on the related main assembly or sub-assembly. In fact, this is known as failure investigation
in conventional sense. Initial observation basically includes the two sets of indicators of the
health of the locomotive. These are the tell-tale signs and operating parameters. In fact, for
most of the cases, the initial observation itself becomes the gateway of detailed findings. For
example, in a case of power ground relay operated, the HT IR should be zero. The
investigation team of experts identifies the responsible sub-assembly or component and the
locomotive is accordingly subjected to corrective action in the form of out of course repair.
Every failure of a locomotive involves a main component. It may or may not be the failure of
this component, but its malfunctioning. Based on the opened gateway in initial observations,
the detailed findings are investigated. It includes finding out the responsible component and
nature of defects. It may also require various facts such as
(1) History of schedule and works
(2) Trends analysis of basic parameters
(3) Chronology of failure events
(4) Remarks of driver on the repair book
(5) Fault logs (in MEP locos)
In conjunction with above details, a detailed findings can ensure reaching out the attribute
and root cause of the failure.

3.3 Assessment
After the component responsible for failure is identified, in-depth investigations are made
regarding its last fitment, involved manpower (technician and supervisor), material receipts,
make, model, material quality etc. This is done to identify the responsibility factor of failure.
The assessment of failure involves following set of elements

Page 496
International Journal of Emerging Trends in Engineering and Development Issue 3, Vol.1 (January 2013)
Available online on http://www.rspublication.com/ijeted/ijeted_index.htm ISSN 2249-6149

(1) Root cause

(2) Responsible factor

3.3.1 Root Cause

Root cause of the failure is the basic nature of defect observed in the failure. It depends upon
the attribute of the failure. It explains the root of failure.

3.3.2 Ownership
Responsible factor is used to ascertain the responsibility of failure in an overall aspect.
Following is the standard list of responsible factors:

3.4 Failure Data

Based on the system of recording details of failures, as discussed above, the failure data can
be generated using codes in computers. For these following two aspects are important.

3.4.1 Computerization
The analysis is to be done using computers; hence it is basic step to devitalize the data of
failure through MS EXCEL or ACCESS to generate a computerized database. Being requisite
for analysis, this computerized database shall offer following basic advantages
(1) Records can be edited
(2) Easy to validate
(3) Easier to search records
(4) Less risk of data to be lost
(5) Data filtering/sequencing
(6) Information can be searched quickly
(7) Easy to modify data
(8) Information is easy to access any time
(9) Reduces data entry, storage space and retrieval cost
(10) Easy to communicate or transfer
Table3.1and Table3.2 Shows the weekly and monthly failure computerized data recorded
and entered into the system database [7].

Table3.1Weekly recorded failure data [7]

Week Pump Traction Cylinder Piston Expresser Heat Turbo- Control

motor Head Exchanger charger cabin
1 2 1 2 1 1 _ _ 2
2 1 _ 1 2 2 _ _ 1
3 2 1 1 1 1 1 _ 1
4 2 _ 2 _ 2 _ _ 1

Page 497
 International Journal of Emerging Trends in Engineering and Development Issue 3, Vol.1 (January 2013)
Available online on http://www.rspublication.com/ijeted/ijeted_index.htm ISSN 2249-6149

Weekly failure assembly data

2011
8
6
4
2
0

1 week 2 week 3 week 4 week

Fig. 3.2 weekly failure data extracted from database.

Figure3.3. Depicts a sample of monthly assembly failure data recorded for January 2011.

25
No. of Failure

20
15
10
5
0
January

No. of Assembly

Fig. 3.3

Table 3.3, 3.4, 3.5 show yearly assembly failure data recorded for over a three years time
period.
Assembly Failure Cumulative Failure Cumulative pct
Pump 280 280 34 %
Control Cabin 145 425 52 %
Cylinder Head 98 523 64 %
Piston 92 615 75 %
Expresser 65 680 83 %
Traction Motor 56 736 90 %
Turbocharger 24 810 99 %
Heat Exchanger 12 822 100 %

Page 498
 International Journal of Emerging Trends in Engineering and Development Issue 3, Vol.1 (January 2013)
Available online on http://www.rspublication.com/ijeted/ijeted_index.htm ISSN 2249-6149

Table 3.4 Diesel Locomotive Failure Number of Assembly in 2009[7]

Assembly Failure Cumulative Failure Cumulative pct

Pump 275 275 40%
Control Cabin 125 400 58%
Cylinder Head 85 485 71%
Piston 75 560 82%
Expresser 50 610 89%
Traction Motor 45 655 95%
Turbocharger 20 675 98%
Heat Exchanger 12 687 100%
Table 3.5 Diesel Locomotive Failure Number of Assembly in 2010 [7]
Assembly Failure Cumulative Failure Cumulative pct
Pump 245 245 54%
Control Cabin 100 345 76%
Cylinder Head 25 370 82%
Piston 25 395 87%
Expresser 20 415 92%
Traction Motor 15 430 95%
Turbocharger 14 444 98%
Heat Exchanger 8 452 100%

3. STRATEGIC ANALYSIS

The knowledge creation and transfer are the basic aspect of knowledge management through
which an organization may flourish. Here, failures are very interesting and useful source of
learning to improve the reliability of locomotive. Having a positive view, failures are the
opportunity and challenge for an organization. Hence, it is expected that once a failure has
occurred, it should not occur in future. In fact, this is theme of preventive maintenance
adopted in Indian Railways for the diesel locomotives [8]. Although, the failure reports get
completed by any means, encompassing the investigation in the form of root cause and
responsibility of failure, but its real outcome of this effort is to conclude into a strategic
analysis which can help in planning for preventive action to improve the reliability of diesel
locomotives. The objective of this analysis is to identify the weak areas where the costly and
critical resources of maintenance should be directed for their optimum utilization, including
the related agencies in the chain system. Thus, the strategy should be based on the Pareto
analysis which segregates the incidences and costs.

Applying the principle of scientific management, the present approach emphasis to ease the
understanding so that everyone can know and think uniformly about the failures and
subsequent action for reliability. Subsequent to the study in previous chapter and in view of
current scenario of the subject organization, the strategies may include comprehensive
technical audits of procedure of every activity to conform the case-wise root causes of out of
course repairs. This should be evolved along with the vast experience of maintenance
practices and skilled staff, well-established technology of diesel locomotives, and huge
opportunity of latest technology. This shall also require readily available comprehensive

Page 499
International Journal of Emerging Trends in Engineering and Development Issue 3, Vol.1 (January 2013)
Available online on http://www.rspublication.com/ijeted/ijeted_index.htm ISSN 2249-6149

analysis of exception statements on availability of maintenance resources, and subsequent

preventive actions against the observed root causes. The findings must be communicated to
every maintenance staff through proper counseling, training and testing.

Information related to every aspect of maintenance should be made readily available to

inculcate responsive and responsible attitude. As other reports are prepared on monthly basis,
this study recommends carrying out the failure analysis on monthly basis over the details of
failure reports. The analysis is to be designed to meet various requirements discussed earlier
and satisfy aspirations of superior levels. Hence, incidences of failure on following attributes
should be examined under main headings. Based on the Pareto principle, the strategic
analysis shall contain following elements.

(1) Defect Analysis

(2) Root causes analysis
(3) Ownership analysis

This study proposes the analysis of failures under the hierarchy as shown in figure 4.1

In other words, for the strategic analysis, the locomotive is divided into its main-assemblies
(systems). Every main-assembly is subsequently divided into all its failed components. Now,
every failure component has three layers at same level, i.e. defect, root-cause, and ownership.
Thus, based on above Locomotive System Theory, this thesis recommends following system
of Strategic Analysis in a step by step procedure.

Fig. 4.1: Analysis of failures

4.1 Defect Analysis

From engineering point of view and assessment of the trend of failures, analysis of defects is
the most important part of the proposed strategic analysis. Like every phenomenon, a given
component may fail repeatedly due to same defect, may be originating due to various reasons.
Hence, every failure component or assembly must be analyzed for number of cases of

Page 500
International Journal of Emerging Trends in Engineering and Development Issue 3, Vol.1 (January 2013)
Available online on http://www.rspublication.com/ijeted/ijeted_index.htm ISSN 2249-6149

incidences of similar defect. As explained earlier, the defects have origin as root cause.
Repetition of same defects demonstrates that suitable action has not been taken after the
previous incidences of similar defect. It helps in knowing the failure of system in
identification of the root cause and subsequent accountable of ownership of the failure of
component and, in turn, that of the locomotive. There is also probability that the root cause
has been identified and ownership has been fixed, but still there is no action or the result may
take time due to magnanimous of the system. It is also recommended that although through
digitization, every database of the failure can be easily analyzed, but the costly assets of
maintenance resources should be deployed strategically for their effective utilization. It is
also observed that the easily noticeable defects may be giving some indications before their
actual manifestation. After thorough verification, these indications should be included into
the set of tale tell sings and every related staff should be trained for their examination. This is
the basis of preventive maintenance.

4.2 Root Cause Analysis

As discussed above, root cause is the aspect from where the defect originates. The root cause
of failure of a component should be seen from engineering point of view which shall
necessitate the research and design aspect of the failure component or related system. For
example, a shaft may be broken at any point over its span or length, but this is not the root
cause of its failure, but it is only the defect. The root cause may be in the quality of material,
design, assembly procedure, running maintenance, effects of other system, etc. These are few
of the possible root causes. It is understood that if the root cause of repeated defects is
identified and verified properly, the fixing of accountability is automatically done. Then, the
next step of preventive action is to be planned.
One should also notice that defects which not occur in rarely or irregularly attract the
attention only for once. It is called corrective action. Also, the defects with repeated
incidences attract for attention. Such attention is called preventive action.
Repeated cases of root cause for a given defect explicitly conforms the failure of the decision
on the ownership aspect. There is also probability that the responsible agency is not taking
sufficient corrective or preventive action regarding the repeated root cause of a given defect.

4.3 Ownership Analysis

Simply, the ownership of a failure is the factor resulting the root cause of the defect in the
failure component. Based on its control area, ownership of the root cause can be determined.
For a given period, may be months, the database of failures can be analyzed to get the
contribution of these agencies into the incidences of failures. In fact, this part of the analysis
is most critical from the administrative point of view as various departments or sections are
involved. Based on this criteria, the responsible agencies can be asked plan and initiate the
preventive action in an effort to avoid failures at least on their accountably. Of course, it is
observed that most of the cases of failures are dealt by diesel sheds, and other units may not
be aware of the truth of the root cause of failures. Hence, it is understood that diesel shed
need to regularly communicate the external units about the defects and root causes of failures.
To start from the basics, following sets of agencies are involved in the failures, and so can be
accounted for,

(1) Research and Design (RDSO)

(2) Stores and Supplies (Stores, Vendors)
(3) Production (DLW, DMW, POH)
(4) Maintenance (Diesel Shed)
(5) Operation (Division)

Page 501
International Journal of Emerging Trends in Engineering and Development Issue 3, Vol.1 (January 2013)
Available online on http://www.rspublication.com/ijeted/ijeted_index.htm ISSN 2249-6149

This grouping is based on the control areas possible involvements. Ownership of every
failure of the locomotive can be attributed on accountable of their ownership. Looking on the
criticality on the decision making on the ownership of the failure, this study recommends
following points of considerations for each of above accountable agencies.

4.4 Failure data analysis

In order to access the failure criticality of the assembly components the Pareto principle is
used to analyze the data recorded over the years. By using this technique the paper identifies
the main vital components of the assembly which are non-trivial for the reliability of the
locomotives. This in turn reduces the effort which is wasted in non-trivial components hence
increases the system effectiveness and reliability. In Figure 4.2, 4.3 and 4.4 Pareto charts are
plotted for assembly failure data recorded for year 2009, 2010 and 2011 respectively.

300 120%

250 100%

200 80%

150 60%
Failure
100 40%
Cumulative pct
50 20%
80% marker
0 0%

Fig. 4.2 Pareto charts2009

300 120%

250 100%

200 80%

150 60%
Failure
100 40%
Cumulative pct
50 20% 80% marker
0 0%

Fig. 4.3 Pareto charts2010

Page 502
International Journal of Emerging Trends in Engineering and Development Issue 3, Vol.1 (January 2013)
Available online on http://www.rspublication.com/ijeted/ijeted_index.htm ISSN 2249-6149

300 120%

250 100%

200 80%

150 60%
Failure
100 40%
Cumulative pct
50 20% 80% marker
0 0%

Fig. 4.4 Pareto charts2011

From the figure 4.2 and figure 4.3 it can be seen that the components which are on the left
hand side of the inter section between cumulative percent line (Also known as Pareto line)
and the 80% marker line are responsible for maximum number of locomotive failure.
Therefore it is evident that Pump, Control cabin, cylinder head, piston are the most critical
components of the locomotive assembly because they contribute to the 80% failure of the
system. From the figure 4.4 it can be seen that the Pump and Control cabin are the most
critical components of the locomotive assembly because they contribute to the 80% failure of
the system. Figure 4.5 shows the yearly failure assemblies in diesel locomotive. It is clear
from this figure that pump and control cabin are more susceptible to the failure.

Yearly failure assembly

900
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0

2009 2010 2011

Fig.4.5 Yearly failure assembly (2009, 2010, 2011)

Page 503
International Journal of Emerging Trends in Engineering and Development Issue 3, Vol.1 (January 2013)
Available online on http://www.rspublication.com/ijeted/ijeted_index.htm ISSN 2249-6149

4. CONCLUSION

Initiating with the diesel engine technology, this paper presented important information
related to Indian Railways, and role and current status of diesel traction. The present
maintenance and repair scenario is also briefly discussed to get a conceptual view. Based on
this study, the paper identifies various points of motivation for the present subject of
reliability and its analysis. Subsequently, paper briefly describes various topics for design
considerations in the study. It includes maintenance, its objective, approaches, and schedules,
out of course repairs. In addition to these, the study also considers basic theories of
management e.g. Pareto's principle of scientific management.

Failures are the most important aspect in maintenance of diesel locomotives. In such a large
system of maintenance, scientific management is an essential aspect. This requires uniform
understanding and approach towards record keeping and analysis related to reliability. In
absence of such uniformity in approach, the system fails in communication of failures and
planning reliability to the root level of workmanship. Based on the previous study, experience
and observations, the study recommends an ideal system of recording of most commonly
used parameter of reliability i.e. line failures. It includes various aspects related to failures for
a comprehensive record. It suggests three stages of recording: reporting, investigation, and
assessment. Looking on the various advantages, the study also recommends computerization
of the database of the failure which shall be useful in the analysis. To simplify the study
hypotheses that every failure should be counted for a defect in a component. Every defect has
its origin in its root cause, and in turn, every root cause has its ownership. In addition to the
proposed Locomotive System Theory, based on this principle, the thesis recommends a
hierarchical system of analysis of failures which can be utilized for strategy and decision
making. Summarily, the present study basically contributes following aspects
(1) System of Recording and Database of failures
(2) Locomotive System Theory and its applications
(3) Hierarchical system for strategic analysis of failures
In this work a detailed failure data analysis of the locomotive assemblies was carried out by
using Pareto Method. From the analysis components which are critical to the assembly failure
were identified. Analysis suggests reliability of the locomotive is largely govern by Pump and
control cabin failures. Subsequently, the study observes that every failure of a component, or
in turn, a locomotive involves many complexities.

5. FUTURE SCOPE
Based on the presented approach on systematic analysis for reliability of diesel locomotives,
the present study can be further extended on various aspects. It is understood that being a
government organization, the database of failures is not analyzed to demonstrate the
application of derived principles in the present study. After suitable permission, the same can
also be carried out. The assessment of reliability needs a rethink as it is observed at various
levels on different parameters. Hence, reliability itself needs to be redefined in the present
system [9]. Its relation with the cost effectiveness of maintenance, material and manpower
needs to be ensured. Although, the definition may become complex, but there is an urgent
need to define the term `reliability' of locomotives for various establishments of Indian
Railways, including planning, research and design, manufacturing, maintenance and
operational departments. They own the actual responsibility of expected to help in ensuring
efficient and expeditious disposal of failures and possible automation by periodic monitoring
of exception statements. Similarly, availability of diesel locomotives needs to be redefined
based on various factors distorting its meaning. The effect of out of control factors needs to

Page 504
International Journal of Emerging Trends in Engineering and Development Issue 3, Vol.1 (January 2013)
Available online on http://www.rspublication.com/ijeted/ijeted_index.htm ISSN 2249-6149

be eliminated from the shed point of view. This shall also need a systematic approach in
measuring the share of various agencies involved.

6. REFERENCES
[1] Ministry of Railway, Government of India, “Website of Railway Board,
http://www.indianrailways.gov.in" Website.
[2] Virgilijus Jastremskas, “System for the Maintenance of Locomotive Operational
Reliability" Proceedings of the 6th International Scienti_c Conference, Transbaltica, (2009).
[3] K N Fry, “Diesel locomotive reliability improvement by system monitoring" Proceedings
of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Journal of Rail and Rapid Transit (vols 203-210),
(1989-1996).
[4] The Pareto Principle, The Wikipedia,
“http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pareto_principle&oldid=531367625”
[5] Ministry of Railway, Government of India, “Punctuality loss of Mail/Express on diesel
locos (Shed wise) [April 2011 – Mar 2012]" Letter No. 2011/M(L)/467/2, (9th April 2011).
[6] Zora Arsovski, Milan Pavlovi), Slavko Arsovski, “Improving the Quality of Maintenance
Processes Using Information Technology" 2nd International Quality Conference,
Kragujevac, (May 13-15, 2008).
[7] Failure Data Resister, Itarsi Diesel Loco Shed
[8] Ajay Kumar Tamrakar, “Loco Availabiilty and Mail Lie Over" Sarang, Rajbhasha
Magazine of Lucknow Division, Northern Railway, Volume 20, (January-March 2010).
[9] K N Fry, “Diesel locomotive reliability improvement by system monitoring" Proceedings
of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Journal of Rail and Rapid Transit (vols 203-210),
(1989-1996).

Page 505