Discuss the importance of maintaining railway infrastructure and rolling stock as well as the

consequences of maintenance neglect.

 Elaborate on 3 fundamental maintenance options that apply to the maintenance of railway
assets.
 In your opinion, how does Transnet Freight Rail measure up to these maintenance
practices. Motivate your point of view?

Railway infrastructure and rolling stock represent a huge capital investment and are susceptible to
wear and tear while being difficult to maintain because of the complexity and weather
variations. A positive return on the assets is usually only realised after decades. Many of the
benefits of maintaining railway infrastructure and rolling stock as well as consequences of
maintenance neglect are of a socio-economic nature and can only be quantified at a macro-
economic level.

The railway infrastructure and assets are susceptible to wear and tear and difficult to
maintain because of the complexity and weather variations. The infrastructure and rolling
stock can be maintained either by manual activity or through the means of modern
technology. There are several reasons to the importance of maintaining railway
infrastructure and rolling stock as well as the consequences of maintenance neglect.
Maintenance increase the availability and reliability of rail transport. More attention is to be
paid to the frequency of services and safety if a mode of transport is to play a significant role
in certain areas. However, without regular maintenance, rail transport will face delays, less
traffic and accidents which impact customer satisfaction. The steady reduction in S.A rail
services over the years is presumably related to the drop in passenger levels because of
lack of trains, as well as the high occurrence of crime. The result is a reduced ability to
attract new passenger traffic, which undermines the potential of rail transport.

Railway infrastructure and rollick stock maintenance is important for lowering operational
costs and fuel consumption.
When the rail infrastructure and rolling stock are properly maintained, the infrastructure and
rolling stock's life spans are extended since their components are subjected to less wear and
strain. Long life spans in rolling stock, track and other rail infrastructure will facilitate the shift
of freight and passengers from road to rail.

essential to service availability, passenger safety, and achieving the optimal lifetime value.

In the rail industry maintenance is a key component to ensure a safe and efficient track for
both freight and passenger trains.
Rolling stock and rail infrastructure maintenance is a critical component in the rail business
to provide a safe and efficient track for both freight and passenger trains.

The goal is to increase availability and reliability

Rail is susceptible to wear and tear because of the heavy weights and high
speeds the cars may reach. Without proper maintenance you may find your
line being given a “Slow Order” in order to minimize the risk of injury, which
directly affects the amount of freight or passengers you can put through in
a given time interval.

(a)  Due to the constant movement of heavy and high-speed trains, the packing
under the sleepers becomes loose and track geometry gets disturbed. The
gauge, alignment, and longitudinal as well as cross levels of the track thus
get affected adversely and the safety of the track is jeopardized.
 
(b) Due to the vibrations and impact of high-speed trains, the fittings of the
track come undone and there is heavy wear and tear of the track and its
components.
 
(c)  The track and its components get worn out as a result of the weathering
effect of rain, sun, and sand.
(a

 
(b) 
 
(c)  Small maintenance jobs done at the appropriate time such as tightening a
bolt or key, hammering the dog spike, etc., helps in avoiding loss of the
concerned fitting and thus saving on the associated expenditure.
 
(d) When track maintenance is neglected for a long time, it may render the
track beyond repair, calling for heavy track renewals that entail huge
expenses.

Elaborate on 3 fundamental maintenance options that apply to the maintenance of railway

assets.

Time-based maintenance

Usage-based maintenance

Condition-based maintenance

Ad hoc and unplanned maintenance

Maintenance Strategies - Maintenance strategies range from non-tactical, such as

breakdown or corrective maintenance, to tactical such as condition-based maintenance.
More mature maintenance organisations also have optimisation strategies such as Reliability
Centred Maintenance or Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) as their maintenance strategy.

Preventive maintenance is one of these strategies. It is used to define

maintenance over predetermined time intervals or according to specific
monitoring condition-based maintenance [10]. Condition-based
maintenance (CBM) is another strategy for sufficient maintenance before
an impending failure; it triggers maintenance when degradation occurs in
the track. To realize this, Condition Monitoring (CM) is needed. CM means
that the status of the railway track condition is monitored, recorded, and
reported so that maintenance actions can be conducted before a problem
occurs, thus reducing breakdowns which improves the overall track
performance and reduces costs [11, 12].
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40534-015-0092-0