Introduction to RAMS

Chanont Wangpuchakane
March-2021
Agenda
• Introduction
• What are RAMS?
• RAMS implementation along the Railway Lifecycle
• RAMS technical terms
• Conclusion

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Introduction
A little warm up to align the basic things

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Travelling by Train
• Major reasons to travel by train
- Easy to manage the Time
- Travelling Safely

• How the train can achieve the required “TIME” and “SAFETY” ?
- Basically, travelling on time and zero accident are the goal of developing
Railway project.
- Reliability, Availability, Maintainability, and Safety (RAMS) techniques can
be implemented throughout the lifecycle of the project to assure these 2
big objectives.

• RAMS will help all parties to gain confident that the train will
operate timely and safely.

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Railway Project Lifecycle

• Why do we need to know about the Lifecycle?

- To systematically manage the project:
- Knowing where you are at any time you are working;
- Knowing what to focus;
- Quality management can be easily implemented.
- Doing and checking at each the development stage to assure the final deliveries.
- To communicate effectively to each others
- Others benefits: financial term, scope split, etc.

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Railway Project Lifecycle
Feasibility &
Tender O&M Authority
D&B Contractor
O&M Contractor

Take Over

Trial Run
CDR
PDR T&C

DDR Manufacturing &

Installation
Figure from EN 50126: 2017 7
System Hierarchy

• Concept of System Hierarchy

- to breakdown the complex system
- to allocate the requirements properly to each sub-system and components

• RAMS will be implemented in every levels of system

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RAMS and System Assurance
• RAMS  EN 50126
• System Assurance  System Engineering  ISO 15288
- Systems engineering is an interdisciplinary approach and means to enable the realization
of successful systems. It focuses on:
- defining customer needs and required functionality early in the development cycle,
- documenting requirements, and then
- proceeding with design synthesis and system validation while considering the complete
problem.
- Systems engineering integrates all the disciplines and specialty groups into a team effort
forming a structured development process that proceeds from concept to production to
operation.
- Systems engineering considers both the business and the technical needs of all customers
with the goal of providing a quality product that meets the user needs. (INCOSE, 2004)

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Misunderstanding of System Assurance
• System Assurance has nothing to do with INSURANCE!
• System Assurance is not Quality Assurance.
- Quality Assurance focuses on ISO 9001: Quality Management System (QMS)
- Quality Assurance aims to assure the processes while System Assurance aims to assure
the System functions as intended.
- However, System Assurance requires the results of Quality Assurance to elaborate the
final System Assurance results. System Assurance can not be achieved without good
Quality Assurance.

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RAMS Technical Terms
Introduction to the common RAMS terms

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RAMS Definitions
• Following definitions as per EN 50126 are given:

R
A
M
S

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RAMS Definitions
• Practically, RAMS can be explained as follow:

Reliability Low Failure

Maintainability Quickly Fix/Prevent the Failure

Availability Low Failure and Quick recovery,

i.e. results of good R&M

Safety Low Risk of Loss

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RAMS Definitions
How often?
Root Causes?
R
Can we resume
the operation?
A
M
How hard to fix
this issue?
How to prevent?

S
Is it Safe?
What are the
mitigations?

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RAMS Implementation
What are RAMS activities along the lifecycle?

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Railway Project Lifecycle
Feasibility &
Tender O&M Authority
D&B Contractor
O&M Contractor

Take Over

Trial Run
CDR
PDR T&C

DDR Manufacturing &

Installation
Figure from EN 50126: 2017 16
RAMS Implementation
Feasibility & • Activities during the Tender phase
Tender - Study from the past projects
- Collecting all the relevant Standards
- PHA and Risk assessment to setup the system-level
requirements

• Deliverables
- RAMS Plan
- RAM Targets
- Safety Targets
- Hazard Log (based on reference projects)
- Risk Matrix
- and etc.

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RAMS Implementation
• Activities during the Design phases
- Apportion the system targets or requirements down to
CDR subsystems and to component level
PDR - RAM Analysis : RBD, FMEA, etc.
- Hazard Analysis : SSHA, SHA, OHA, FMECA, etc.
DDR - Risk confirmation : FTA, etc.
• Deliverables
- Subsystem RAM Targets
- Subsystem Safety Requirements
- Project Hazard Log
- Hazard log (based on reference projects)
- RAM Analysis
- Safety case
- and etc.
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RAMS Implementation
• Activities during the Manufacturing and Installation
phases
- Updating the analysis due to the issue found during the
Manufacturing and Installation phase
- Planning for the safety-related test and RAM
demonstration test
- Test Readiness
Manufacturing &
Installation • Deliverables
- Updated documents (from the previous phase)
- RAM Demonstration Plan

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RAMS Implementation
• Activities during the Design phases
Trial Run - Safety Validation and hazard closeout
- Finalize the Safety case
T&C - Setting up FRACAS
- Demonstrate the safety-related cases through the
Trial run, e.g. evacuation, degraded mode, fire
scenarios, etc.
• Deliverables
- Updated documents (from the previous phase)
- Final Safety case
- Validation Report

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RAMS Implementation
• Activities during the Design phases
- System assessment by the independent
organization, i.e. ICE for the overall project, ISA for
system safety.
- Take over by the Operator
Take Over
• Deliverables
- Assessment Report

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RAMS Implementation
• Activities during the Design phases
O&M - Monitoring the RAMS performance along the O&M
period
- Implement FRACAS
• Deliverables
- FRACAS report
- RAM demonstration report
- Impact analysis, if any change is implemented.
- Updated Hazard Log

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RAMS Technical Terms
Some important terms to know

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Life in Reliability
• Bathtub Curve
- Early life tends to introduce many failures. Some
electronic devices need the burn in. When time
passes, the systems improve and the failure rate
reduce to the useful life.
- Useful life is the period when the system can
perform well with stable failure rate. It normally
match the Defect Liability Period when the
systems meet the requirement.
- End of life is the last period of the product. The
systems need the overhaul or replacement.

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Type of Reliability
• Intrinsic or basic reliability
- The duration or probability that a given item will perform without any failure its intended
function for a given period of time under specific conditions and environment
- Contractually, this can be called as “Relevant Failures”.

• Operation or Mission reliability (affecting passenger service, etc.)

- The duration or probability that a given item will perform its intended function for the
duration of a specified mission profile. Failures are permitted as long as they do not affect
mission profile. (delayed train, train removed from service, etc…).
- Contractually, this can be called as “Relevant Service Failures”.

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Type of Reliability
• Considering the mission of the car is to going from place to place, what kind of
failure for the following case:

The wipers stuck

and cannot clear the
windshield.

Intrinsic Reliability
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Type of Reliability
• Considering the mission of the car is to going from place to place, what kind of
failure for the following case:

Car overheat, smoke,

and breakdown!

Both Intrinsic & Mission Reliability

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Measurement of Reliability
• Measured by time
- MTBF = Mean Time Between Failures
- MTBSF or MTBSAF - S of SA is for Service which refers to Mission Reliability
- MTBF is widely used for all the electronic components and is a basic terms for almost every
component.

• Measured by distance
- MDBF = Mean Distance Between Failures (similar S or SA is also applied)
- MDBF is used for Train equipment. Mostly, the targets at the train level will be set by MDBF
and the allocation will be done for each subsystem, then the translation between MDBF and
MTBF will be performed to component level.
• Measured by cycle
- MCBF = Mean Cycle Between Failures
- MCBF is used mainly for Platform Screen Doors and the Point machines. The MCBF will be
translated to MTBF for the design at component level.
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Measurement of Reliability
• Other measured units
Measure by time
MTBF = Mean Time Between Failures
FPMH = Failure Per Million Hours
MTTF = Mean Time To Failure
FIT = Failure In Time (1 billion hours)
Measure by distance
MDBF = Mean Distance Between Failures
FPMK = Failure Per Million Kilometers
Train-km
Distance accumulated by the whole
train. Normally, the train-km combine
the running distance of the whole fleet.
Car-km
Distance accumulated by each car of the
train. It’s basically train-km multiplied by
the number of car per train.
Train
Car
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Measurement of Reliability
• Differences between MTBF and MTTF
- MTTF is used for non-repairable system
- MTBF is used for repairable system
- When the time to repair for repairable system is considerably lower than the MTBF, the
different between MTBF and MTTF is negligible, i.e. MTTF ~ MTBF. For example, MTBF =
200,000 hours and MTTR = 0.5 hours. MTTF can be assumed to be 200,000 hours.

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Calculating MTBF (from field data)

MTBF = Total Time

Number of failure N(t)

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Calculating MTBF (from field data)

MDBF = Total Distance

Number of failure

FAILURE RATE (per hr) = Number of failure

Time in calculation

FPMH (per million hr) = Failure Rate per hr

1,000,000

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Calculating MTBF (from field data)
Listed below the questions to check first.
• What kind of Failures are to be calculated?
- All failure, Service failure, Replacement failure, etc.

• What is the Sample size?

- Fleet size (car, train), Installed quantity, etc.

• What is the Operation profile?

- Km/year, Hours/day, etc.

• What is the Period of calculation?

- Within one year, after revenue service, etc.

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Measurement of Reliability
Ex. There were 10 failures of the Doors caused train to stop within a month, 20
hrs/day operation. Fleet size is 10 trains, 2-car train, 4 door sets per car.
What’s the MTBF for Door set?
• What kind of Failures are to be calculated?
- Door Service Stopping Failure
• What is the sample size?
- 10 Trains/ 20 Cars/ 80 Door sets
• What is the Operation profile?
- 20 hours per day
• What is the period of calculation?
- 1 month or 30 days

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Measurement of Reliability
Ex. There were 10 failures of the Doors caused train to stop within a month, 20 hrs/day
operation. Fleet size is 10 trains, 2-car train, 4 door sets per car.
What’s the MTBF for Door set?
• TRAIN Level
- Total Time = 10 Trains x 20 hrs x 30 days = 6,000 hrs
- MTBF = 6,000 / 10 = 600 hrs per failure per train
• CAR Level
- Total Time = 10 Trains x 20 hrs x 30 days x 2 cars = 12,000 hrs
- MTBF = 12,000 / 10 = 1,200 hrs per failure per car
• DOOR Level
- Total Time = 10 Trains x 20 hrs x 30 days x 2 cars x 4 door set = 48,000 hrs
- MTBF = 48,000 / 10 = 4,800 hrs per failure per door set

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Misconception of MTBF
• Failure will occur only when operating time reaches the MTBF value (Distance in
case of MDBF).
- Correct way to interpret the MTBF is to consider the RISK of failure (can be exponential
function), not the time to failure because M = Mean.

• Higher MTBF is always better.

- MTBF must be considered together with time to repair or the functional effects to be able to
ensure the correct interpretation.

• MTBF is applicable for every failures.

- As mentioned earlier, failure definitions should be clear for every MTBF as well as the type
of reliability we are considering: intrinsic or mission.

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37
Measurement of Maintainability
• To measure the ability to maintain in term of service restoration or component
restoration by repairing or replacement.

MTTR = Mean Time To Repair

Mean Time To Restore
REPAIR TIME
always refer to the Inspection + Repair/Replace + Test
RESTORE TIME
always refer to the Repair time + Administration time

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Measurement of Maintainability
• Examples of quantitative maintainability characteristics

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Calculating MTTR (from field data)

MTTR = Total Repair or Restore Time

Number of failure/repair

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Measurement of Maintainability
Ex. 10 failures of train Doors can be rectified within different period of time. Totally, all
failures are recorded down time as 150 minutes. During the operation, it’s observed
that the time to the site for the technicians was around 10 minutes.
What’s the MTTR for Door set?
• Repair
- Total Repair Time = 150 – (10x10) = 50 minutes
- MTTR = 50 / 10 = 5 minutes

• Restore
- Total Restore Time = 150 minutes
- MTTR = 150 / 10 = 15 minutes

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LRU
• LRU = Line Replaceable Unit
- A unit designed to be removed upon failure from a larger entity (product or item) in the
operational environment, normally at the organization level.
- Maintainability targets and studies are normally performed at LRU level, e.g. MTTR for
brakes system = 1.5 hours, etc.

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Qualitative Maintainability Characteristic
• There is a range of other possible qualitative
subjects which may be of concern:
- Accessibility;
- Maintenance skill level requirement;
- Need for special tools and test equipment;
- Need for adjustments;
- Parts standardization;
- Clear sub-system function identification;
- Configuration control, fit and function;
- Visual inspection access;
- Obsolescence of equipment;
- Safety of maintenance;
- And etc.

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Type of Availability
• Achieved Availability or Demonstrated Availability (AA)
- This is the common Availability everybody refers to. AA can be calculated from the field data
with the formula below:
Downtime Uptime
AA = 1 − =
Total Time Total Time
- Downtime includes all repair time (corrective and preventive maintenance time),
administrative time and logistic time.

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Type of Availability
• Intrinsic or Inherent Availability (Ai)
- Ai does not include administrative time and logistic time; in fact, it usually does not include
preventive maintenance time. Intrinsic Availability is primarily a function of the basic
equipment/system design.

MRT = Mean Repair Time, MUT = Mean Up Time

Downtime Uptime MTBF

AA = 1 − = Ai =
Total Time Total Time MTBF + MRT

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46
Accident
• Accident is an unintended event or series of events that results in death, injury, loss
of a system or service, or environmental damage

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Hazard
• Hazard is a condition that could lead to an accident.

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Hazard and Accident
• It’s important to understand the relationship between hazard and accident to
properly manage the Safety of the Railway.
Subsystem System
Boundary Boundary
Condition
Interface
Hazard Accident
System
A

Causes

Hazard
Time
System
B
Subsystem
Hazard

Causes Consequences
Hazard Analysis and Control Risk Analysis and Mitigation
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Risk
• Risk (for Railway RAMS) is a combination of expected Frequency of loss and the
expected degree of Severity of that loss.
• Basically, RAMS processes are aiming to lower the risk to the “Acceptable level”
where adequate control is maintained. (ALARP: As Low As Reasonably
Practicable)

Table from EN 50126

• Other risk acceptance:

- The new system must be as safe or safer than the reference system (GAME: Globalement Au
Moins Equivalent)
- Minimum Endogenous Mortality (MEM) is a method to derive absolute values for risk
acceptance based on the natural death rate of human beings of specified age.

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Risk Analysis
• Risk Matrix is a simple method using for Risk Acceptance by rating the frequency
and severity of the accident.

Table from EN 50126

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Risk Reduction
• Previously discussed, risk can be evaluated by the Severity and its frequency of
occurrence. To lower the risk, we can then either lower each of them.

SEVERITY AND FREQUENCY

reduced by reduced by

PROTECTION DESIGN
Barrier Better Material
Safety Gear Better Components
Personal Protective Equipment Redundancy
Fire Exit Preventive Maintenance
Fire Drill Fail-Safe design
Procedure Specification per Standards
etc. etc.

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53
Conclusion
Q&A and further readings

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Further Reading
• Detailed process for both RAM and Safety
• System RAMS analysis: combining MTBF or MTTR, RBD, FTA, and etc.
• List of Standards
- EN 50126-1: Generic RAMS Process
- EN 50126-2: Systems Approach to Safety
- EN 61025: Fault Tree Analysis
- EN 61078: Reliability Block Diagram
- EN 61703: Mathematical expressions for RAMS

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