Rolling stock suspension also needs to set the vehicle at the correct height so that collisions with station platforms and other rail infrastructure are avoided. Small packing plates are placed under the main suspension springs to make this adjustment. Get this wrong and the four wheels under the running gear can take on the characteristic of a wobbly table with some wheels overloaded and some wheels underloaded.
Overloaded wheels may wear quickly or are more easily damaged and underloaded wheels are most dangerous of all because they are easily derailed and threaten passenger safety. Correct selection of the suspension spring backing plates both balances out wheel loads evenly and prevents body side swipes. Large weighing machines at depots measure the weight under each wheel to check for even load distribution. Traditionally selection of primary spring packers is a trial and error process which is extremely time-consuming.
ExcelWraps rolling stock workflow solution is used to provide an intelligent form that will take the results of the first wheel weighing and tell you precisely what packing pieces to use for each spring to both set the vehicle level correctly and to optimise the load distribution over wheels. The new process is 12 times faster than the trial and error process.
Our special inspection solutions can include inspecting scheduled maintenance, wheel load balance & levelling, bolt failure diagnostics, handovers, and rail incident safety.
Asset management may increase the productivity of your technicians by 5% to 10% while using iPad checklists will help reinforce your maintenance strategy.
